Allgäu Alps West

Fresh snowdrifts are the main danger

Wintery weather conditions, with snowfall and low temperatures. Snowfall will persist during the nocturnal hours and into the morning, thereafter dry weather will follow with only brief snow showers during the daytime, particularly from Arlberg to the Allgau Alps. Clouds and fog will prevail all day long. At 2000m: -10 degrees. Brisk to strong NW winds at high altitudes.

Snowdrift accumulations will remain prone to triggering.

Fresh snowdrifts are the main danger

Avalanche danger above the treeline is considerable, danger below that altitude is low. Snowdrift accumulations above the treeline can be easily triggered even by one single winter sports enthusiast and grow to medium size. Slab avalanches can often fracture down to more deeply embedded layers inside the snowpack and grow to large size. Danger zones occur particularly behind protruberances in the landscape, in gullies and blows and on wind-loaded slopes. Size and frequency tend to increase with ascending altitude. Whumpf noises and glide-cracks when the snowpack is stepped on are signals of danger. At low and intermediate altitudes on steep grass-covered slopes, small glide-snow avalanches are possible.

Strong to storm-strength W/NW winds are transporting 25cm-deep fresh snow, in barrier cloud zones up to 35cm. The snowdrifts which accumulate are being deposited atop a weak old snowpack surface, particularly on shady high altitude slopes, on sunny slopes often atop a thin melt-freeze crust. Weak layers occur on high-altitude wind-protected slopes, can also occur inside the snowdrifts themselves. At low altitudes the fresh snow and drifts lie deposited atop a moistened or encrusted old snowpack surface.