Totes Gebirge South

Fresh, small snowdrift patches at high altitude

No significant change.

Fresh, small snowdrift patches at high altitude

Avalanche danger is low in general, isolated snowdrift patches are to be found in wind-loaded steep zones esp. in N/E ridgeline areas above 1800 m. The easily recognized snowdrift patches are prone to triggering and are a major risk to falling. Apart from that there are few danger zones where a slab can be triggered by large additional loading, most likely in extremely steep, shallow-snow terrain above 2200 m on E/N facing slopes. Shallow-snow and extremely steep slopes, especially in ridgeline terrain, should be critically assessed or, better yet, circumvented.

At high altitudes the surface is hardened and icy or wind-pressed, beneath that the fundament is compact and without avalanche-relevant weak layers. However, the process of expansive metamorphosis is continuing above 1500 m, the snowpack evidences increasingly frequently faceted crystals, is forfeiting its firmness and losing its base. At low altitudes the snowpack is moist-to-wet and the surface thinly encrusted at most.

The Eastern Alps are in the grips of a westerly, relatively mild high-altitude air current. Perturbances from the northeast and from the Mediterranean will bring instable conditions. On Boxing Day the higher summits will disappear in heavy cloud intermittently, some precipitation is expected. The snowfall level in the eastern massifs will descend to valley floors. Temperatures at midday in western regions: at 2000 m -1 degree, at 1500 m +2 degrees; in eastern regions -2 and -2 degrees. Winds will be light-to-moderate from the southwest at high altitudes, from east-to-southeast at lower altitudes. On Monday the clouds will disperse from the west and it will turn increasingly sunny. Light winds. Temperatures will remain unchanged.