Weisseck, Muhr Valley

Main danger: fresh snowdrift accumulations

Main danger: fresh snowdrift accumulations

Strong southerly winds are transporting the loose old snow and fresh snow, depositing it as drifts behind protruberances, in gullies and bowls. These masses are prone to triggering particularly on shady slopes, can often be triggered as avalanches by one sole winter sports enthusiast. Size and spread of danger zones increase with ascending altitude. Avalanches are mostly small, but can grow to medium size in isolated cases. Snowdrift masses should be avoided wherever possible. Poor visibility makes recognizing the dangers more difficult. On east-facing, south-facing and west-facing slopes below 2500 m, in addition, there is minor danger of glide-snow avalanches, particularly on steep, unstructured grassy slopes.

Particularly on shady slopes at high altitudes the fresh snowdrifts in wind-protected zones have been deposited on top of a surface of loose fresh snow. Wind-exposed zones have been windblown, gullies and bowls are filled to the brim with drifts. In the lower part of the snowpack only on steep west-facing, north-facing and east-facing slopes above 2500 m are isolated weak layers of faceted crystals embedded between melt-freeze crusts. At low and intermediate altitudes there is no cohesive area-wide snowpack. On steep grassy slopes the snowpack glides away from the ground, due to the warmth. In general, there is still too little snow for snow sports in the mountains of Salzburg. Above 2000 m the overall snowpack depth is 30-60 cm. Frequently, descents meet up with rocks. In forest zones, there is no cohesive snowpack.

Saturday: Heavy clouds will form barrier accumulations in the Tauern and Nockberge zones. Apart from that, clouds are dispersed due to foehn wind above the high-fog ceiling. In the afternoon, clouds will stretch over to the north, visibility will deteriorate. Particularly in the Nockberge and Tauern a small amount of snowfall is expected. In the foehn lanes, brisk southerly winds are expected (60 km/hr). At 2000 m: -2 to +1 degree, at 3000 -7 to -5 degrees. Sunday: In Tauern and Lungau Nockberge, mostly cloudy, limited visibility, a few raindrops or snowflakes. Further north, mostly dry. Initially some sunshine, later on the clouds will move in. In the foehn lanes, brisk southerly winds (60 km/hr). At 2000 m, between 0 and 3 degrees, at 3000 m, -4 degrees. Monday: ample clouds will move in. In the course of the afternoon, snowfall will set in from the southwest, snowfall level at about 1700 m. The initially strong southerly wind will rapidly weaken.

Starting on Tuesday: snowdrift accumulations will bond with the layers beneath them and avalanche danger will decrease.