Werdenfels Alps

Caution: small-spread snowdrifts

Caution: small-spread snowdrifts

Avalanche danger is moderate above 2000 m, below that altitude danger is low. The main problem are snowdrifts which for can be triggered slab avalanches by minimum additional loading, for example by a single skier. Avalanche prone locations are found in steep ridgeline terrain in N/E/S aspects and in wind-loaded gullies and bowls. Avalanches tend to be small. In extremely steep rocky and rugged terrain the snow can release spontaneously as loose wet snow avalanches. It cannot be excluded that isolated avalanches reach medium size. There is a risk that small glide snow avalanches release spontaneously on very steep slopes over smooth ground that have not yet discharged.

Westerly winds transported the new snow of the last few days. At higher altitudes the snow is in places deposited atop older snowdrift accumulations, more frequently, however, on an encrusted old snowpack surface. At times the snowfall was accompanied by little wind, so that in some places it forms a loose and trigger-sensitive intermediate layer or blankets trigger-sensitive accumulated snowdrift masses. The crusts consisting of faceted (expansively metamorphosed) layers at high altitudes are dissolving more and more and are unlikely to trigger. At intermediate altitudes the new snow and snowdrifts are found atop a moist old snowpack surface. Due to the mild temperatures the superficial snow moistens fast and forfeits its firmness. At high altitudes the snowpack is moist, at intermediate altitudes thoroughly wet, but all in all it is compact and, by and large, stable.On steep slopes the wet snowpack base promotes gliding of the snowpack.

Weather will stay mild until Friday. Danger of dry avalanches recedes.