Snow conditions 10.3.2014

At the end of the week, the weather was sunny and relatively warm.

The snow cover was rapidly transforming, settling and also melting at lower elevations, especially quickly disappearing at lower altitudes.

During the day, snow on sun-exposed slopes crusted over, and individual southern snow slabs were also released. At night, the snow refroze.

The snow line fluctuated between 1300 and 1900 m.



The snow cover reaches up to an elevation of about 800 m, on sun-exposed aspects up to about 1200 m. Snow depth is very uneven especially in the high mountains. The most snow is above 1800 m in the western Julian Alps, where it reaches up to about 700 cm, elsewhere in the Julians up to about 500 cm, in the western and central Karawanks and Kamnik-Savinja Alps up to about 250 cm. At 1500 m in the Julians and western Karawanks up to about 320 cm, elsewhere from 100 to 130 cm. The snow cover is mostly covered with crust, in places it is also icy and hard in the morning. During the day, snow on sunny aspects crusts and softens. Only in some shady high-mountain locations is the snow still soft.

There is a lot of wind-packed snow and slabs.

Avalanche danger is mostly level 2.

The snowpack is mostly moderately stable. You can trigger an avalanche especially in places with wind-packed snow. Steep slopes are also more dangerous. In the middle of the day and in the afternoon, snow on southern slopes and plateaus softens and becomes more unstable, and especially there you can trigger a snow slab avalanche, and some may release spontaneously as well. At night and during part of the morning, the snow cover is more stable.



Dry and sunny weather will continue. The snow will continue to settle and transform. The surface crust will become more pronounced even in the high mountains. The snow line will already rise to an elevation of about 2100 m by tomorrow afternoon, it will be even warmer on Wednesday. But on clear nights, the snow cover will still refreeze.

It will gradually become more stable, more labile mainly on sun-exposed slopes in the middle of the day and afternoon.

The next report on the snowpack condition will be issued on Wednesday, 12.3.2014 in the afternoon.



General avalanche danger is level 2 on the European five-level scale.



Source: ARSO