Lower Tauern Central

Heavy snowfall in the Northern Alps

Heavy snowfall in the Northern Alps

Avalanche danger above 1500m is MODERATE, below that altitude danger is LOW. The risks stem mostly from small-to-medium slab avalanches. A triggering of fresh snowdrifts is possible even by minimum additional loading. Danger zones occur mostly in steep ridgeline terain, in steep gullies and bowls and behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain, particularly in NW/N/SE aspects. The frequency of danger zones increases with ascending altitude. Apart from the dropping temperatures, also isolated small-to-medium sized naturally triggered glide-snow avalanches are possible. Thus, circumvent all areas below glide cracks.

The cold fresh fallen snow will be deposited atop a snowpack which was already springlike with many melt-freeze encrusted surfaces, also expansively metamorphosed layers on high-alpine shady slopes, accompanied by heavy wind impact. The bonding of rough base is generally adequate to start with, possible fracture points for slabs are found particularly in wind-loaded fresh fallen snow. At intermediate altitudes there is little snow on the ground, at low altitudes the fresh snow will fall on bare ground.

On Friday night a cold front from the northwest will spread snowfall, the snowfall level descending from 1500m down to 800-600 m by early morning. During the night, 5-15 cm of fresh snow is expected, during the daytime the peaks will be shrouded in clouds, snow showers will pass through (bringing an additional 5-10 cm of fresh snow) which will also hamper visibility. A few sunny intervals are expected between the snow showers. Winds will be W/NW, blowing at 40-60 km/hr. At 2000 m: -8 degrees; at 3000 m: -13 degrees.

No significant change. Fresh snowdrift accumulations are the main danger.