Lower Tauern South

Fresh wind slab prone to triggering.

Fresh wind slab prone to triggering.

The avalanche danger is low. With new fallen snow and stormy winds from the northwest, fresh prone-to-triggering snow packs have been forming for a few days, which can be triggered by individuals in a few places from around 2200 metres. Most avalanches remain small, but enough snow could accumulate in isolated terrain traps to bury people. Be careful behind exposed ridges and ridgelines, in gullies and bowls. In shady slopes, there are still very occasional trigger points in persistent weak layers that are difficult to disturb. The drift snow packs are usually easily recognisable, stones under the thin snow cover, snowpack often not.

The snow cover, snowpack is highly variable. On the surface, in leeward areas, there is a succession of fresh drift snow layers on the melt-freeze crust of the old snow surface. Fractures are most possible here, the drift snow layers are poorly connected to each other and to the melt-freeze crust in some places. Underneath, there is usually edgy snow with no binding. Due to the overall heavily built-up transformed snow cover, the potential for fracture propagation in the old snowpack is generally low. The snow depth is well below average at all altitudes.

During the night, the wind will pick up in the northern Alps (peaks around 60 km/h) and compact cloud fields will gather. On Friday, the sun may still appear in some places in the south at the start of the day. From midday onwards, light snow showers will occur in the northern Alps and later on as far as the central Alps. The amounts are still uncertain, but it is likely that no more than 10 cm will fall anywhere. Short gaps of cloud may form from time to time. The wind will blow briskly from the west on the mountains with gusts of around 70 km/h, and even stronger on the peaks of the northern mountain groups. Temperatures will drop again, reaching around -8 degrees at 2000 metres, -13 degrees at 3000 metres in the south and -17 degrees in the north.

The avalanche danger increases slightly on Saturday with new fallen snow and wind.