Hochschwab Mountains

Above the timberline: moderate avalanche danger

Above the timberline: moderate avalanche danger

In the northern and western mountain regions of Styria, moderate danger prevails above the treeline. In some danger zones, additional loading can trigger a slab avalanche. These danger spots lie behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain and at the entries into gullies and bowls in all aspects. Due to the persistent weak layer there are more danger zones in extremely steep terrain on north-facing slopes. These are not visible to the naked eye.

The snowpack fundament is still shallow, not cohesive. Due to a sequence of melt-freeze crusts and soft layers with faceted crystals there is a problem in some spots. Below about 1500 m in the northern regions of Styria there is still now cohesive snowpack. Atop of it lies 20-40 cm of loose fresh snow, often transported into gullies and bowls and the edge of forests, deposited as bonded snowdrifts. In many places there is still unbonded powder snow. Exposed zones are utterly windblown.

Thursday will start with sunshine, milder tempertures, only a bit of cirrus cloud. At 2000 m: 0 to -2 degrees. Winds will be light to moderate from S to SW. In the afternoon, clouds will move in from the west. On Thursday night, temperatures will drop slightly, in the southern and eastern massifs, snowfall will set in.

The higher temperatures will stabilise the snowpack fundament and the older drifts, thereby diminishing the avalanche dangber. Depending on the amount of fresh snow and wind, a new snowdrift problem could be generated on Friday at high altitudes.