Nock Mountains

Take into account persistent weak layers and avoid small-scale pillows of wind drifted snow

Take into account persistent weak layers and avoid small-scale pillows of wind drifted snow

The avalanche risk is low. Medium-sized slab avalanches can still be triggered in a few hard-to-recognise places, especially in the extended northern sector above 1800 m, but usually only with a large additional load. This is in particular at the transitions from little to more snow. Fresh, small-scale pillows of wind drifted snow in the areas adjacent to the ridgeline, crest or summit of the extended northern and eastern exposures are temporarily prone to triggering.

Once again, it is snowing unproductively. The little new and wind slab snow lies in shady high areas on a soft, faceted snow surface. Otherwise, there is often an equally thin, non-load-bearing melt-free crust under the thin layer of fresh snow. Underneath this is a well-set sequence of compact, older drift snow layers, in which a crust is embedded in combination with faceted crystals. The connection at the transition to the old snow foundation, which consists mainly of deep rime, is still poor. Deep and sunny middle layers are largely snowed out.

Thick clouds will prevail during the night and on Monday morning and it may snow here and there. The clouds will then soften and the sun may appear around lunchtime. In the course of the afternoon, dense clouds and a few snow showers will return with a freshening north-westerly wind. The temperature at 2000 metres will be -6 to -3 degrees, although it will cool down in the afternoon. The north-westerly wind will reach speeds of around 50 km/h in open areas.

With a brisk westerly wind, it will snow unproductively on Monday, the avalanche danger will not change significantly.