Snow conditions 12.3.2014

Sunny and relatively warm weather continues. Today, the temperature rose above zero even to the highest peaks. The snow cover has been transforming, settling, and melting rapidly at lower elevations.

At night, the snow froze, and the surface crust strengthened. In the middle of the day and afternoon, individual south-facing snow slabs released.



The snow cover extends to about 800 m a.s.l., on sun-facing slopes up to about 1200 m. The snow depth is quite uneven.

The most snow above 1800 m is in the western Julian Alps, 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 90 to 130 cm. The snow cover is mostly crusted, in places frozen and hard in the morning.

During the day, on sunny slopes, the snow settles and softens. Only in some shady high-mountain locations does the snow remain poorly transformed and soft.

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

The avalanche danger is mostly level 2.

The snowpack is mostly moderately stable. You can trigger an avalanche especially where there is wind-packed snow. Steep slopes are also more dangerous. In the middle of the day and afternoon, snow on south-facing slopes and plateaus softens and becomes more unstable, and that's where you can trigger a snow avalanche, and some may release spontaneously. At night and in the first part of the morning, the snowpack is more stable.



Dry and sunny weather will continue. The snow will continue to settle, transform, and melt at lower elevations. On clear nights, the snowpack will freeze. It will gradually become more stable, becoming more labile mainly on sun-facing slopes in the middle of the day and afternoon.

The next snowpack report will be issued on Friday, 14.3.2014 in the morning.



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



Source: ARSO