Snow conditions 16.12.2013

Even at the end of the week it was dry and sunny in the mountains. On Saturday during the day colder air began to arrive, the layer of air with positive temperatures disappeared by Sunday morning, but Sunday afternoon it warmed up again and a temperature inversion formed again. Today temperatures above zero range from about 600 to 2200 m a.s.l. The snowpack on sun-exposed slopes is transforming, with the surface crust strengthening somewhat. In shady areas the snowpack remains poorly transformed and dry.

In the high mountains of the Julian Alps there is 80 to about 110 cm of snow, at 1500 m, and also elsewhere in our mountains, up to about 40 cm.

There is a lot of wind-packed snow, on wind-exposed sites the snow is scoured to the ground in places. Significant snow cover reaches to about 1400 m a.s.l., lower in shaded areas. Snow is dry, mainly crusty on sunny aspects and at lower elevations, icy in places in the morning, softening during the day.

Avalanche danger is mostly level 1. Only at sites with windpacked snow and on steep slopes, especially in shady gullies, larger loads on the snowpack can still trigger avalanches. At midday and early afternoon small sluffs of wet snow may occur on steep sun-exposed slopes.

Dry weather will continue. Inversion layer above highest summits until Thursday, when cooling will resume slowly. Snowpack on sun-exposed slopes will slowly disappear or settle.

Next snow report on Friday, 20.12.2013.



General avalanche danger is level 1 on the European 5-level scale.



Source: ARSO