Lower Tauern South

Snowdrifts due to W/NE winds

On Sunday, visibility often reduced by clouds and fog, intermittent minor snowfall, hardly any sunshine. Winds will intensify, shift from NW to NE. In the afternoon winds will reach 30 km/hr, in the Tauern region 40-60 km/hr. Cold. At 2000 m: -14 degrees; at 3000 m: -21 degrees.

No significant change expected. The cold will preserve the snowdrift problem.

Snowdrifts due to W/NE winds

Avalanche danger above 1800 m is MODERATE, below that altitude danger is LOW. Risks stem from small, isolatedly medium slab avalanches which can be triggered in a few places even be minimum additional loading. They occur mostly in steep ridgeline terrain, in steep gullies and bowls, behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain in all aspects. Frequency of danger zones increases with ascending altitude. Naturally triggered loose-snow and isolated glide-snow avalanches are possible in extremely steep terrain.

Atop a springtime surface with many melt-freeze crusts, on shady high-alpine slopes also with faceted layers, very cold fresh snow has been deposited: 15-25 cm, up to 30-40 cm in the barrier cloud zones of the Northern Alps. In open terrain, the W/N winds transported the fresh snow, in the Tauern region from NE winds. Bonding is generally adequate. Potential fracture points for slabs are found mostly in the blanketed fresh snow, also the blanketed surface hoar on steep north-facing slopes are risky. At intermediate altitudes there is little snow, at low altitudes the fresh snow fell on bare ground.