Fischbach Alps East, Wechsel

Isolated glide-snow avalanches still possible on very steep slopes

Isolated glide-snow avalanches still possible on very steep slopes

Avalanche danger is low. With the rain impact, naturally triggered wet-snow and glide-snow avalanches are possible in all aspects on steep grassy slopes or smooth rocky slopes where the snow is deep enough. Small fresh snowdrift patches are no problem but can blanket icy surfaces.

The snowpack is moist/wet up to high altitudes, generally well settled but with poor bonding with the ground beneath, so can glide over smooth surfaces. Minor fresh snow, only locally, deposited on a melt-freeze encrusted snowpack surface or is transported to southeast-facing slopes and deposited as snowdrift patches.

Also on Friday the weather will take 2 different directions. In the Northern Alps the summits are mostly hidden in heavy clouds and repeated bouts of snowfall are expected, in the southern regions there will be little cloud and lots of sunshine (except in the morning, with isolated showers which can extend to the rimline ranges). High altitude winds will be strong, elsewhere brisk, from the northwest. At 2000 m: -8 degrees at midday. By Saturday morning in Niedere Tauern up to 20 cm of fresh snow is anticipated, in Totes Gebirge and Hochschwab up to 50 cm.

On Saturday the clouds will disperse in the Northern Alps. After high fogbanks disperse in the rimline ranges it will become a sunny day. Winds will slacken off somewhat. At 2000 m: -7 degrees, getting warmer in the evening. Trigger-sensitive snowpack accumulations above the treeline remain the main problem.