Werdenfels Alps

Fresh and older transported snow above 1800 m: CAUTION.

Fresh and older transported snow above 1800 m: CAUTION.

Avalanche danger above 1800 m is considerable, danger below that altitude is low. Main problem: fresh snowdrift accumulations. Slab avalanches can be triggered by one sole person on steep ridgeline slopes in N/W/S aspects, in gullies and bowls and behind abrupt discontinuities in the terrain. Above the timberline, the danger zones are more numerous. Avalanches can grow to medium size. Sunshine and daytime warming will medium-sized naturally triggered loose-snow and slab avalanches possible above the treeline in rocky steep terrain.

Since Monday at high altitudes, strong easterly winds have generated fresh snowdrift accumulations. The new and older snowdrifts lie bonded atop soft layers of expansively metamorphosed crystals and are prone to triggering. At intermediate altitudes the rising temperatures have helped the snowpack to settle and moistened the upper layers on sunny slopes. There, a melt-freeze crust will form at night, subsequently soften up during the daytime hours. On high alpine shady slopes, weak layers have persisted inside the snowpack.

Avalanche danger will diminish over the next few days.