Nock Mountains

Wet-snow problem up to high altitudes. Above 2300m: hidden persistent weak layer.

Wet-snow problem up to high altitudes. Above 2300m: hidden persistent weak layer.

Avalanche danger is moderate. Dry-snow slab avalanches can be triggered by one sole skier above 2300m, the fresh snowdrifts have been deposited also distant from ridgelines in gullies and bowls, avalanches can reach medium size and fracture down to more deeply embedded layers in the snowpack esp. on little-tracked steep north-facing slopes. Small-to-medium moist and dry-snow naturally triggered slab avalanches are possible below 2300m. Wet-snow avalanches in extremely steep terrain and isolaated glide-snow avalanches can be expected, mostly small release (loose-snow, slabs gliding over the ground atop a melt-freeze crust).

On shady slopes at high and high-alpine altitudes the freshly generated foehn-induced drifts lie deposited atop an unfavorable snowpack surface. Inside the old snowpack are several weak layers of faceted crystals which can serve as a slab atop the fresh snowdrifts. Also on sunny slopes, moist slabs can slide away over the uppermost crusts of the old snowpack. Due to reduced nocturnal outgoing longwave radiation and solar radiation during daytime hours, the snowpack is at least moist up to 2300m and is rapidly forfeiting its firmness.

Nighttime skies will be heavily clouded, the final showers will slacken off during the evening. Foehn winds will collapse in the early part of the night. On Monday, variably sunny and cloudy, thereby starkly varying visibility. At 2000m: 0-4 degrees; at 3000m: -6 degrees. Not much wind.

Likelihood of the snowdrifts triggering will gradually decrease, wet-snow problem and persistent weak layer will continue.