Hochschwab Mountains

Favorable backcountry touring conditions

Favorable backcountry touring conditions

Low danger prevails in Styria. Isolated avalanche prone locations occur on N/E-facing slopes, where there is a persistent weak layer. A slab avalanche triggering on extremely steep shady slopes cannot be ruled out.

On north-facing slopes in the Northern Alps and Niedere Tauern, older snowdrifts lie deposited atop a compact old snowpack. On shady high altitude slopes there are faceted crystals inside the snowpack structuring. On shady forest lanes the snow is still unbonded (due to cold). On top of that in wind-protected zones there is often loose powder snow. Also on shady slopes in forest lanes, the snow is unbonded and thus, quite loose. South of the Mur-Mürz rift the snowpack is stable. Melt-freeze or wind crusts dominate. In zones where there is little snow, it is expansively metamorphosed.

There are minimal air-pressure tensions in the atmosphere of the Eastern Alps, the air masses are cold and dry. A low over the Adriatic is gaining in strength, the high-altitude air-current on Sunday will be from NE to E, bringing low-to-intermediate cloud cover and a few minor snow showers to Styria. Sunshine is most likely in the far northwestern regions. Winds will remain light. Temperatures at 2000 m: -11 degrees; at 1500 m: -7 degrees.

Ongoingly low temperatures, little sunshine, moderate winds, not much fresh snow. No significant change in avalanche danger levels is anticipated.