Snow conditions 24.11.2014

At the end of the week, the weather in the mountains was mostly sunny.

There was no significant wind. A distinct temperature reversal occurred. The top of the cloud cover was initially at around 1300 m above sea level, then fluctuated between 800 and around 1000 m. Above this limit, the air was dry, the freezing level was mostly above 2600 m. Despite positive temperatures, due to low relative humidity, the snow did not transform much or melt during the day, except in the lower part of this warm layer and especially on sun-exposed slopes. There, the snow froze overnight and a thin crust formed. The snow settled a bit and transformed poorly.

At 2500 m above sea level, snow depth is around 90 cm in the Julian Alps and around 50 cm elsewhere in our mountains. With lower altitude, the snow cover thickness decreases rapidly; at 1500 m in the Julian Alps around 30 cm, elsewhere less.

The snow cover is mostly dry and soft on the surface; under the surface layer of soft snow there is locally a thin crust or somewhat denser and thus more compact snow, which does not hold human weight. The crust is mostly on sun-exposed slopes below around 2000 m. On wind-exposed locations, the snow is quite wind-blown.

Avalanche danger is mostly level 1.

The snowpack is generally stable; even in the high mountains there is still too little snow and no old base that would allow new snow to slide. Only on steep slopes in the high mountains and especially in gullies, where some old snow remains, can the upper snow layer slide under heavy load somewhere.



Dry weather with temperature reversal will continue until mid-week, when a south or southwest wind will blow. The temperature reversal will weaken, clouds will start building in the hills and air humidity will increase. Therefore, the snow will start transforming a bit faster. Light precipitation will begin to appear locally in the west on Thursday. There will be no major precipitation until Friday.

The snowpack will settle a bit more and transform.

The next report will be published on Friday, 28.11.2014.



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



Source: ARSO