Chiemgau Alps East

All in all, between 20 cm and 40 cm of fresh snow and storm

All in all, between 20 cm and 40 cm of fresh snow and storm

Avalanche danger above the treeline is moderate, danger below that altitude is low. Main problem: fresh snowdrifts. In many places slab avalanches can even be triggered by minimum additional loading such as a single skier. Avalanche prone locations are found in steep terrain in all aspects, also distant from ridgelines, in particular below protuberances and in gullies and bowls. Avalanches attain medium size. In addition, new snow can trigger naturally in the form of small or medium-sized loose snow avalanches in extremely steep terrain.

Due to storm and moderate snowfall snowdrift accumulations will grow bigger during the night. The snowdrifts have bonded only poorly with the old snowpack surface. On the sunny side, packed snowdrifts masses are in many places found atop a melt-freeze crust; on the shady side atop a wind crust, atop older or more recent packed snowdrift masses or powder snow. In many places graupel is embedded between the near surface layers. The critical snow volume is reached in places, resulting in a loss of stability and as a consequence avalanches can release spontaneously.

Due to further snowfalls and plenty of wind the avalanche danger will increase by Saturday.