Nock Mountains

Danger of taking a fall outweighs that of being buried in snow

Danger of taking a fall outweighs that of being buried in snow

Avalanche danger is low, the major danger stems from snowdrifts. Particularly on very steep shady slopes above the timberline, slab avalanches can be triggered in isolated cases by minimum additional loading. Releases are mostly small-sized. Apart from th danger of being buried in snow masses, the risks of being swept along and forced to take a fall need to be taken into consideration.

Often hardened snowdrift masses have been deposited on shady slopes atop an explansively metamorphosed surface over the last few days. On shady slopes, small fresh snowdrift patches are being generated. In wind-protected shady terrain, the surface is often rewarding for skiers, faceted, expansively metamorphosed power. In wind-exposed terrain the surface is highly varied, foehn conditions are being generated on steep sunny slopes.

On Thursday, intermittent sunshine, widespread high-altitude clouds will generate diffuse light conditions. In the afternoon, the lower border of the cloud cover will descend, showers will be frequent esp. in Northern Alps, persist into the evening. Snowfall above 800-1000m, but only minor amounts expected. Brisk to strong-velocity W/SW winds, reaching windspeeds in the morning of 60 km/hr. At 2000m: -4 to +3 degrees; at 3000m: between -8 and -4 degrees.

No significant change in avalanche danger levels anticipated