Pongau Grass Mountains

Heed wind signals. Loose powder where there is no wind.

Heed wind signals. Loose powder where there is no wind.

Avalanche danger is MODERATE. Danger zones for slab avalanches occur near ridgelines, increasingly on E/S facing slopes and in steep gullies and wind-protected bowls. A small-to-medium slab avalanche can be triggered even by minimum additional loading.

The huge amounts of cold fresh snow over the last few days were able to settle on Sunday in the un-windy and intermittently sunny weather. Previously, on Saturday at high altitudes, strong-to-stormy N/NW winds transported the snow widespread, depositing new snowdrift accumulations in gullies and on wind-protected slopes. The fracture point for slab avalanches lies at the very cold, loose blanketed snow. Then there are also weak layers inside the old snowpack near melt-freeze crusts and the depth hoar in the fundament.

On Monday, visibility will be adequate, hardly any snowfall until after noon. Only in exposed terrain above the treeline will the N/NE wind be a disturbance (30 km/hr). At 2000 m: -7 degrees.

As temperatures rise, the snowpack will settle. In ridgeline zones, the snowdrift problem persists.