Werdenfels Alps

Small snowdrifts prone to triggering

Small snowdrifts prone to triggering

Above 2200 m, moderate avalanche danger prevails. The freshly generated snowdrifts are the main problem. Avalanche prone locations arae located particularly in steep ridgeline terrain in NW/E/SE aspects and in wind-loaded gullies and bowls. Slab avalanches can be triggered even by one single winter sports enthusiast and easily force a fall. On extremely steep shady slopes above 2200 m, triggered avalanches can grow to medium size if deeper layers inside the snowpack are triggered. Moreover, at intermediate altitudes isolated wet-snow avalanches require special attentiveness. They are predominantly small-sized and can trigger naturally in all aspects in steep rocky terrain and on smooth grass-covered slopes wherever there is sufficient snow and avalanches have not yet discharged. The problem of glide-snow and loose-snow avalanches will increase somewhat during the course of the day.

During the last few days, small snowdrift accumulations have been generated at high altitudes. They lie deposited atop an irregularly melt-freeze encrusted old snowpack surface and are bonding poorly with it. In shady, wind-protected terrain at high altitudes, the drifts often lie on loose layers of snow and are particularly prone to triggering. Furthermore, at higher altitudes there are often trigger-sensitive intermediate layers of expansively metamorphosed (faceted) snow crystals. At intermediate altitudes the snowpack is quite and stable overall. Water which is seeping into the snowpack at intermediate altitudes as a result of warm temperatures, rain and a lack of nocturnal outgoing radiation, is weakening the snowpack only minimally. Gliding movements of the snowpack over wet ground are increasing.

Over the next few days it will be warm, without much precipitation. No significant change is expected in avalanche danger levels.