Lower Tauern South

Caution! Wide ranging foehn-induced snowdrifts in places - easily triggered!

Caution! Wide ranging foehn-induced snowdrifts in places - easily triggered!

Restraint is imperative. Foehn winds are changing the conditions before our eyes, avalanche prone locations are different from what they were yesterday. Above the timberline, fresh snowdrifts are easily triggered, even the impulse of one sole person can trigger a medium-to-large slab avalanche. All aspects are treacherous, but particularly the northern aspects (W/N/E). Due to windblown terrain and high degree of roughness of the ground, the danger zones can easily be underestimated. Second danger: very steep terrain, where small-to-medium superficial loose-snow avalanches and isolated glide-snow avalanches can trigger naturally as a result of the higher temperatures.

The cold fresh snow from Thursday daytime and Thursday night (20-40 cm) will be transported by southerly winds to north-facing slopes on Friday. The freshly generated drifts will lie atop cold and loose snow. At low and intermediate altitudes the snow will become superficially moist. Starting at 2200 m, there is a thin fracturable melt-freeze crust from mid-November (old-snow problem) at least in extended northern aspects.

Overcast skies from the start. Summits are free of cloud, only the highest peaks are in fog. Further north, intermittent snowfall is possible. At 2000 m temperatures rising to +1 degree, at 3000 m to -6 degrees. Southerly winds at 40-60 km/hr will prevail. On Saturday night and during the daytime on Sunday, 20-30 cm of fresh snow is anticipated. On Sunday the peaks will often be veiled in cloud, intermittent snowfall is anticipated. At high altitudes, a strong NW wind will be blowing (40-60 km/hr) which will slacken off somewhat in the afternoon. Temperatures will drop: at 2000 m to -9 degrees, at 3000 m -16 degrees.

Unchanged: great caution urged! As a result of fresh snow and westerly winds, fresh and wide-ranging snowdrift masses will form, deposited again on east-facing and south-facing slopes.