Allgäu Alps West

Caution urged towards snowdrifts with increasing altitude

Caution urged towards snowdrifts with increasing altitude

At higher altitudes the freshly-generated and older snowdrift accumulations are prone to triggering in some places, easily triggered as small-sized, in isolated cases as medium sized slab avalanches. Danger zones occur behind protruberances in the landscape, in gullies and bowls, and on freshly wind-loaded slopes. Magnitude and spread tend to increase with ascending altitude. Avalanche headquarters currently has little data from outlying regions about the snowpack, for that reason a cautious on-site evaluation is important. Below the treeline, avalanche danger is low. Isolated danger zone for small triggerings (slides) are possible in steep terrain. The risks of being swept along and forced to take a fall need to be considered.

By Monday evening, 5-10 cm of fresh snow is anticipatedd. It will be deposited on a largely well consolidated old snowpack surface showing marked effects from wind. Knolls and ridges are often completely windblown, gullies and bowls often filled to the brim with snow. With ascending altitude, mostly small-to-medium snowdrift masses are evident, particularly in ridgeline and pass areas. They are only moderately well bonded in themselves and also with the old snowpack surface, making them prone to triggering.

In the evening and during the night, widespread light-to-moderate snowfall extending down to low lying areas. Monday will be cloudy all day long, with light snowfall coming from the low lying clouds and fog. At 2000m: -6 degrees. High altitude winds: moderate to brisk from NE to E.

Starting on Tuesday it will turn intermittently sunny, but remain quite cold. Thus, no significant change in danger levels is expected.