Snow conditions 18.2.2015

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



MODERATE - due to windpacked snow, drifts and weak layers in the old snowpack.



RISK ASSESSMENT



The avalanche danger is mostly level 2 in the high mountains, lower down and in areas with little snow it is level 1.



Since Monday, the snowpack has stabilized somewhat further, but it is still potentially unstable locally and poorly bonded to the base. You can only trigger an avalanche with significant additional load, mainly on steep slopes and in areas with windpacked snow.

No spontaneous avalanching is expected.



SNOW CONDITIONS



On Monday and Tuesday there was quite a lot of sunny weather in the mountains. On Monday the freezing level was around 1300 m, but it cooled gradually during the day and on Tuesday temperatures in the mountains were mostly below zero, and by today it has cooled even more. Snow only softened somewhat on sun-exposed slopes during the day and refroze at night, elsewhere it remained frozen and dry. The snowpack has been transforming slowly. Snow depth is quite uneven. At 2500 m above sea level there is up to about 180 cm of snow, at 1500 m up to about 100 cm, at 1000 m from 20 to about 60 cm.



CURRENT SNOWPACK STATE



The snowpack is dry and mostly crusty, on more wind-exposed spots and sun-exposed slopes also hard, only in some sheltered shady spots is it still soft. There are many drifts and wind crusts that are still relatively unstable. Ridges are mostly quite wind-scoured and therefore hard and icy in places, in some spots the snow is scoured down to bare ground.



FORECAST WEATHER DEVELOPMENT



Today it will be mostly clear in the western Julian Alps and in the far west of the Karawanks. Elsewhere in the hills above about 1600 m it will be mostly clear, lower down there will be a layer of low cloud and foggy. During the day this cloud layer will thin gradually, it will persist longest over Gorenjska and Štajerska. Temperatures will be below zero. The snowpack will mostly remain frozen, only in places on sun-exposed slopes it may soften slightly on the surface during the day.



Tomorrow it will warm up considerably, the freezing level will rise to about 2100 m. Mostly clear. Therefore snow on sun-exposed slopes and plateaus will soften during the day and refreeze in the night to Friday. Due to the warming, the snowpack will temporarily become somewhat unstable during the day, especially on sun-exposed slopes, where on grassy steep terrain snow may even slide off in places. The snow will also transform faster and therefore stabilize in the longer term.



TENDENCY OF SNOW CONDITIONS



Avalanche conditions will not change much in most of our mountains. Especially on sun-exposed slopes the snowpack will become somewhat unstable during the day, so there the possibility increases that under load the snow beneath you may avalanche.



Next report will be published on Friday, 20.2.2015



Source: ARSO