Semmering - Wechselgebiet

Snowdrift accumulations are prone to triggering in places!

Snowdrift accumulations are prone to triggering in places!

The avalanche danger is low. Nevertheless, fresh drift snow areas can be triggered as small slab avalanches by a single person. The avalanche prone locations are located in particular in the steep terrain adjacent to the ridgeline, crest or summit in the north-west, east to south aspects as well as in gullies and bowls. The risk of being swept away and falling continues to outweigh the risk of burial.

Some new fallen snow was deposited by strong winds from westerly directions in the leeward areas as wind slab on a soft layer of snow interspersed with graupel. Some rain and warming last Friday partially moistened the snow cover, where a melt-freeze crust formed. Weak layers for slab avalanches form soft snow layers (new fallen snow, faceted crystals) in the transition to the crusted old snowpack, the foundation of which is occasionally weakened by kinetic metamorphism. The snow depth varies greatly. Hardness, blown and drifting snow-laden areas alternate.

It will remain mostly clear on Monday night. A stormy north-westerly wind will continue to blow. During the day, it will initially be partly sunny on the eastern edge of the Alps, with a warm front bringing dense clouds from the west from the morning. Snowfall will set in in the afternoon and spread to the eastern regions by the evening, but large amounts are not expected. After a slight drop in the wind during the day, it will pick up again from the west by the evening at the latest! Temperatures will rise at all altitudes, from -8 to -2 degrees at 2000 metres in the morning and -5 to -1 degrees at 1500 metres in the evening.

On Tuesday, the snowfall and rain will soon subside and it will soften up in the afternoon. The frost line gradually rises towards 2000 metres. The wind slab problem decreases, the danger of wet slides increases briefly.