Wölz Tauern South

Beware of wind-drifted snow at high altitudes.

The avalanche danger is assessed as moderate above the tree line. Attention must be paid to the drift snow and persistent weak layers. The danger spots are in the north and east sectors. It cannot be completely ruled out that a slab avalanche can be triggered by a small additional load. In some areas, avalanches can tear through layers of old snow close to the ground and become medium-sized.

Between 5 and 20 cm of fresh snow has fallen since Tuesday. The greatest amount of fresh snow was in the Totes Gebirge. The snow initially fell with light winds. On Thursday strong south-westerly winds will bring snow to the northern and eastern sectors. The fresh snow has mostly covered an icy layer at high altitudes or snowed over the meadow again. Below the layer of fresh snow, there is still a more or less continuous snow cover only at high altitudes and on the shady slopes. The old snow cover is weakened in places by faceted snow crystals.

While cloudy conditions will dominate south of the Alpenhauptkamm and visibility on the mountains will often be limited, north of the Alpenhauptkamm the lee effect (downwinds) will break up the clouds and it will remain dry. The winds will be strong from the southwest, especially in the Niedere Tauern, and temperatures at 2000 m will be between 0 and 3 degrees at midday.

On Friday, icy polar air will penetrate Austria behind a cold front, leading to a significant drop in temperature on the mountains. It will be accompanied by a little snowfall and a stormy north-westerly wind in the Nordstau. The risk of avalanches increases slightly.