Rax - Schneeberggebiet

Slab avalanches can be triggered very easily in gullies and sometimes occur spontaneously!

From Sunday, the weather will once again be prone to disruption, it will be mostly cloudy and it will snow lightly from time to time. New drift snow packs form with the stormy wind. There is little change to the avalanche risk. The wind slab problem remains.

Slab avalanches can be triggered very easily in gullies and sometimes occur spontaneously!

The avalanche danger above 1200 metres is assessed as considerable (level 3). The new fallen snow and the extensive snowdrift accumulations are prone to triggering, especially above the tree line. The main problem is wind slab. The avalanche prone locations are adjacent to ridgelines and far from ridgelines. They are mainly located in gullies, bowls and behind terrain edges. The layer of drifting snow can be triggered by individual winter sports enthusiasts as a medium-sized avalanche. Spontaneous slab avalanches as well as loose snow avalanches are possible from very steep gullies. Defensive behaviour is recommended when ski touring.

30 to 50 cm of new fallen snow has fallen under the influence of strong winds. Weak layers can be found within the drift snow packs or in the transition to the old snowpack. The snow was transported into gullies and bowls by the stormy north to north-westerly winds. Fresh snowdrift accumulations are deposited above the tree line on a partly still weak old snowpack. The snowdrift accumulations, some of which are thick, should not be underestimated! Weak layers are located in the bound layer or in the transition to the old snowpack.

During the coming night, the cloud cover will still be mostly dense, especially in the Gutenstein Alps it will still snow lightly at times, but the strong wind will blow away most of the new fallen snow. On Saturday, the mountains will initially be covered in cloud, but there will be hardly any snow. During the daytime changes, the clouds will become increasingly soft from the west. In the Rax- Schneeber area it will remain mostly cloudy until the afternoon. The temperature at an altitude of 2000 metres will be between -10 and -7 degrees. The temperature at an altitude of 1500 metres will be between -6 and -3 degrees. There will be strong to gale-force winds with gusts of between 60 and 100 km/h from the north. The snowfall level is between the valleys and around 800 metres above sea level.