Snow conditions 12.2.2014

On Monday and Tuesday, it occasionally snowed in the mountains. The snow line was at altitudes from 800 to 1100 m, but on Wednesday night it dropped to the lowlands. In total, about 15 to 40 cm of snow fell. This time the amount of precipitation was somewhat more evenly distributed, but still the least on the far east. The snow was dry in the high mountains, wetter lower down and bonded better to the ground. More precipitation fell on Monday.

The southwest wind occasionally blew strongly, forming extensive areas of wind-blown snow and numerous new slabs. The new snow settled somewhat as it fell.



Significant snow cover mostly reaches up to about 600 m altitude. Snow depth is particularly variable in the high mountains due to windy weather in recent days. The most snow is above 1800 m in the western Julian Alps, over 600 cm, elsewhere in the Julians up to about 430 cm, in the western and central Karawanks and Kamnik-Savinja Alps around 240 cm. At 1500 m in the Julians and western Karawanks up to about 350 cm, elsewhere from 110 to 170 cm. The snow is mostly soft and sinks deeply, but in places it is covered with a crust formed by the wind. There is a lot of wind-blown snow, and on wind-exposed sites the snow is heavily scoured.

Avalanche danger is 3rd degree everywhere in our mountains.

The snowpack is potentially quite unstable. Especially from steep slopes in the high mountains, individual small snow avalanches can still release. You can trigger a snow avalanche even with minor additional loading of the snowpack, especially at sites with wind-blown snow and on steeper slopes.



Today it will be mostly cloudy, precipitation will retreat to the east and weaken. Especially in the eastern Karawanks and the eastern part of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, 5 to 10 cm of snow may still fall.

In the northwest it will clear up in the afternoon. Tomorrow partly clear, but clouds will start to gather during the day over the Julian Alps area and the hills of Inner Carniola and northern Primorska. A southwest wind will blow, again transporting snow into drifts. The snowpack will slowly settle and transform, and on sun-facing slopes it will also crust on the surface due to the sun. On Thursday night a weather front will quickly pass over us and 5 to about 15 cm of snow will fall, but it will not change the avalanche conditions. The snowpack will only stabilize slowly, so avalanche risk will remain 3rd degree until Friday.

The next snowpack report will be issued on Friday, 14.2.2014.



General avalanche danger is 3rd degree on the European five-level scale.



Source: ARSO