Snow conditions 22.1.2018

General avalanche danger level - Monday, 22 January 2018

Danger is level 2 on the European five-level scale - MODERATE.

Main problem: weak layers

Danger pattern: cooling after warm weather / warming after frost



Risk assessment

Avalanche danger above about 1800 m altitude is MODERATE, level 2, lower down LOW, level 1. Steep slopes are particularly dangerous, especially wind slab areas where, particularly under higher snowpack loading, you can trigger a wind slab avalanche. Danger is lower at lower altitudes, where there is less snow.



Snow conditions

The snowpack is mostly quite stable and hard. In places, a few centimetres of snow on a hard surface. Snow is still soft especially on northern aspects. There is a lot of wind-blown snow, wind-exposed spots are heavily scoured, hard and icy.



Forecast weather development

A period of dry weather lies ahead. Until mid-week, mostly sunny with occasional increased cloudiness. Today still relatively cold, temperatures in the mountains below zero most of the day. Towards evening it will warm up and the freezing level will rise to about 1800 m. This will be followed by a brief cooling, and on Wednesday daytime it will be quite warm, with 0°C at about 2200 m, and on Thursday at 2800 m. Both today and tomorrow, strong north to northwesterly winds will blow especially in the high mountains.



Trend in snow conditions

The snowpack is transforming only slowly; warming will somewhat accelerate the transformation. Snow will crust slightly on sun-exposed mid-mountain slopes during the day and refreeze at night. In the longer term, the snowpack will stabilise a bit more. Greater caution is advised in areas with wind-blown snow!



Next bulletin: Wednesday, 24 January 2018



Source: ARSO