Snow conditions 23.4.2012

From Friday, the weather in the mountains was variable to mostly cloudy and often foggy. There were occasional precipitation, more frequent and heavier in the Julian Alps and western Karawanks. The snow line was mostly between 1400 and 1700 m, only on Sunday afternoon it dropped below 1000 m. 10 to almost 40 cm of snow fell, which fell on a soft base from previous days. In the high mountains, the snow was dry, so it formed a uniform and therefore thicker layer of relatively loose or at least softer snow with the older snow. Already during snowfall, avalanches of new, unbonded snow were releasing from steep slopes. The southwesterly wind was creating wind slabs.

Especially in the high mountains, there is now more snow than there was in winter, in many places the maximum snow cover heights of this year have been reached, which is mostly soft and loose. The consolidated snow cover extends to about 1100 m above sea level, but there is little snow below 1500 m. On wind-exposed locations, snow is wind-blown in places. In total, at 1500 m above sea level there is about 30 cm of snow, at 2500 m in the Julian Alps up to about 220 cm. The avalanche danger is mainly 3rd degree in the high mountains of the Julian Alps, lower and elsewhere in our mountains 1st to 2nd degree, depending on the altitude. Steep slopes and areas with wind-blown snow are particularly dangerous, where an avalanche can be triggered even with minor additional load. Initially, small and medium-sized spontaneous avalanches will also release.

Today it will be foggy in the mountains with occasional, brief precipitation, but little. It will snow at around 1400 m above sea level. Tomorrow it will still be mostly cloudy with occasional precipitation, more in the Julian Alps and western Karawanks. The snow line will be between 1100 and 1300 m above sea level. By Wednesday morning, up to about 40 cm of snow can fall in the Julian Alps area, elsewhere in our mountains 10 to 20 cm. The freezing level will be at around 1800 m above sea level. Higher up the snow will be dry, so the snowpack will become even more unstable. Lower down the snow will be wet and will settle somewhat more over time.

The new report will be issued on Wednesday, 25.4.2012.



The general avalanche danger is 3rd degree on the European five-degree scale.



Source: ARSO