Villach Alps

Caution: fresh snow and fresh snowdrift accumulations. Too little snow on the ground for this juncture of the season.

Caution: fresh snow and fresh snowdrift accumulations. Too little snow on the ground for this juncture of the season.

Snowdrift accumulations which are prone to triggering are being generated particularly in gullies, bowls and behind protruberances in the landscape due to fresh snow and moderate-to-strong velocity winds. Avalanches can in isolated cases be triggered by one sole skier. Particularly unfavorable are shady slopes where there are weak layers inside the old snowpack. Danger zones are often covered and difficult to recognize, releases are mostly small-sized. Size and frequency of danger zones will tend to increase with ascending altitude.

Up to 20 cm of fresh snow is anticipated, locally more. Often strong winds will transport the fresh fallen snow. The fresh snowdrift accumulations will be deposited atop a weak old snowpack surface particularly on NW/N/SE facing slopes above 1800m. The old snowpack is expansively metamorphosed, and faceted. The snowpack is highly diverse even over small areas.

Tuesday will bring a low-pressure front from Italy and often heavy snowfall. Initially the snowfall level will be at 1500m, with wet snow; then in afternoon, colder air masses will arrive and the snowfall level will drop to beneath 1000m. Visibility will be starkly reduced by fog. Winds will shift to northerly as precipitation falls, reach windspeeds of 40 km/hr. Temperatures will drop. At 2000m: -4 degrees in the evening. Further weather forecasts are as yet uncertain, particularly the snowfall level.

Caution: fresh snow and drifts at high altitudes