Werdenfels Alps

Beware gliding snow/wet snow and small snowdrifts

Beware gliding snow/wet snow and small snowdrifts

Avalanche danger is moderate above 1800 m, otherwise danger is low. Gliding snow is the main problem. On very steep slopes with smooth ground the activity of naturally triggered glide-snow avalanches will increase as the day progresses, releases mostly small. Avoid zones below glide cracks. Isolated small-to-medium slab avalanches can be triggered at high altitudes by large additional loading. The few danger zones occur in transitions from shallow to deep snow, e.g. at entries into steep gullies. Below 1300 m, in addition, wet loose-snow avalanches trigger naturally as the day unfolds in steep rocky terrain.

Following a night of partly clear skies the snowpack surface is melt-freeze encrusted and hard and can bear loads, often icy. During the course of the day, precipitation and strong winds will set in from the west. In leeward terrain, small drifts will be generated, deposited atop loose snowpack layers, elsewhere the fluctuating wind velocities will generate soft trigger-prone layers in the snowdrifts and at entries to the old snowpack. In the uppermost part of the snowpack at high altitudes there are expansively metamorphosed layers. The old snowpack is thoroughly wet down to the ground. Gliding movements on slopes with smooth ground are the result. This tendency is being reinforced by recent rainfall up to 1300 m.

Sunny and dry on the weekend. Avalanche danger will be transferred to glide-snow/wet-snow.