Lower Tauern South

Fresh and older snowdrift accumulations are prone to disruption

Fresh and older snowdrift accumulations are prone to disruption

The avalanche danger is moderate above the tree line and low below. Slab avalanches can be triggered in some places by even a small additional load. Avalanches can reach medium size, the fresh snowdrift accumulations grow during the daytime changes. Avalanche prone locations can be found in all aspects, adjacent to the ridgeline and distant from ridgelines, behind terrain edges, in gullies and bowls. Cracks when walking on the snow cover, snowpack indicate danger. In addition to the risk of burial, attention must be paid to the risk of being swept away and falling. There are also still many stones lurking.

By Friday evening, 10 to 20 cm of new fallen snow had fallen, by Saturday evening another 5 to 10 cm, locally even more. Wind and snowfall are constantly forming fresh wind slabs at high altitudes. Both the recently fallen soft snow, surface hoar and faceted crystals above/below the uppermost crust can serve as a weak layer. The rest of the old snowpack consists of layers of faceted crystals, deep frost and melt-freeze crusts, where it has little tendency to break up. The amount of snow is clearly below average.

The night to Saturday will be cloudy with light snowfall in places (maximum 5 cm of fresh snow). On Saturday, visibility will often be limited by dense clouds. In addition, light to moderate snowfall will become more frequent during the daytime changes - 5 to 10 cm will fall during the day. In Lungau, it will be mostly precipitation-free during the day, with occasional sunny spells. Brisk to strong winds from westerly directions, peaking at around 70 km/h at exposed high altitudes. Temperatures at 2000 m around -9 degrees, at 3000 m around -17 degrees.

The wind slab remains prone to triggering. As the snowfall continues, the snowdrift accumulations will increase slightly.