Ybbstaler Alpen

Fresh wind slab is still prone to triggering!

Fresh wind slab is still prone to triggering!

The avalanche risk is moderate above the tree line. Fresh drift snow areas can be triggered as small to medium-sized slab avalanches by low additional loads. The avalanche prone locations are located in particular in areas adjacent to the ridgeline, crest or summit in the north, east and south aspects as well as in gullies and bowls, occasionally in open forest areas.

Since Thursday, 15 to 30 cm of new fallen snow has fallen, which was deposited with strong winds from the west as wind slab on a soft layer of snow interspersed with graupel. Weak layers for slab avalanches form soft deposits within the fresh, bound snow layer as well as soft snow layers (new fallen snow, faceted crystals) in the transition to the crusted can form. In places, their foundations are additionally weakened by kinetic metamorphism. In general, the amount of snow is still well below average.

It will remain mostly clear on Monday night. A stormy north-westerly wind will continue to blow. During the day, it will be partly sunny on the eastern edge of the Alps at first, with a warm front bringing dense cloud fields from the west from the morning. By the afternoon at the latest, snowfall will start in the Ybbstal and Türnitz Alps and spread to all 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 naturally triggered avalanches increases briefly.