Snow conditions 17.2.2014

On Friday, in sunny weather, the snow cover was settling and crusting on sun-exposed slopes. On Saturday, even warmer air arrived, the snow cover temporarily became somewhat unstable, so individual avalanches released from steep slopes. On Sunday it was somewhat colder. On Monday night it started snowing, but the snow line was initially quite high, even above 1700 m, descending to the lowlands by morning. It snowed on Monday. By Monday morning, at least around 70 cm of snow had fallen in the high mountains of the western Julian Alps, probably more. In the central part of the Julian Alps and in the western Karawanks, new snow above around 1800 m was up to about half a meter, elsewhere in the mountains and lower around 10 cm. It continued snowing during the day, and by evening another around 40 cm had accumulated in the west, elsewhere 15 to 30 cm. The snow was initially quite southern, so the bond between old and new snow is not particularly weak. The new snow was settling as it fell. Initially a strong southwest wind blew, turning eastward during the day.

New wind slabs and soft slabs have formed.



The snow cover mostly reaches the lowlands. Snow depth is especially variable in the high mountains due to wind. The most snow is above 1800 m in the western Julian Alps, where it exceeds 700 cm, elsewhere in the Julian Alps up to around 500 cm, in the western and central Karawanks and Kamnik-Savinja Alps around 300 cm. At 1500 m it is up to around 360 cm in the Julian Alps and western Karawanks, elsewhere 120 to 170 cm. The snow is soft and sinks deeply. There is a lot of wind-blown snow; on wind-exposed slopes it is heavily drifted.

The avalanche danger is mostly 4 in the high mountains of the western and central parts of our mountains, elsewhere 3.

The snow cover is unstable. Spontaneous release of individual large and medium-sized as well as numerous smaller new snow avalanches from steeper slopes is expected. An avalanche can be easily triggered by minor additional stress on the snow cover even on moderately steep high mountain slopes. The snow cover is somewhat less unstable in the mid-mountains and in the eastern part of our mountains.



It will clear at night, Tuesday will be mostly dry. The snow cover will settle slowly. The southwest wind will transport snow and form new wind slabs and soft slabs. As warmer air arrives, the snow cover will initially become even more unstable but will also transform faster. Especially in the eastern part of our mountains, sunny weather will accelerate the transformation of the snow cover. But already on Wednesday, precipitation will return. The snow line will initially be above around 1800 m, lowering gradually during the day and descending below 800 m in the night to Thursday. Below the snow line, rain will further destabilize the snow, while higher up around 30 cm of snow will fall again, possibly more in the west. Precipitation will ease during Thursday daytime.

The risk of avalanches will remain high, both in the high mountains and lower due to warming and rain.

The next snow cover report will be issued on Friday, 21.2.2014 in the afternoon.



The general avalanche danger is considerable, i.e. degree 4 on the European 5-level scale.



Source: ARSO