Snow conditions 24.2.2012

Since Wednesday, the weather has mostly been sunny. It has gradually warmed up, and today the freezing level is already around 2700 m above sea level.

In the morning, the snow cover froze, during the day it crusted mainly on sun-exposed slopes. The new snow from the beginning of the week has settled somewhat and transformed. Individual avalanches have occurred from steep slopes.

The snow cover is now mostly covered with a crust that does not support human weight, only in shady areas it is still soft. There is a lot of wind-blown snow.

Significant snow cover extends to around 700 m above sea level, in some valleys even lower. At 1500 m above sea level in the Julian Alps there is about 100 cm of snow, elsewhere about 70 cm. Above 2000 m in the Julian Alps there is about 140 cm of snow. The avalanche danger is still 3rd degree. Steeper slopes are dangerous, especially areas with wind-blown snow that can slide even with minor additional load, spontaneous slabbing is possible mainly during the day on sun-facing steeper slopes. On wind-packed areas there is a risk of slabs.

Today, Friday, it will be very warm, at 1500 m the air mass temperature will be around 10 degrees. Tomorrow it will cool slightly, on Sunday the freezing level will drop below 1000 m with the passage of a weakened cold front. Today and tomorrow the snow cover will settle and transform faster, freezing at night. During the day it will destabilize, at night the avalanche danger will temporarily decrease. On Sunday there will be transient short-term precipitation that will not affect avalanche conditions. With the cooling, the snow avalanche danger will decrease on Sunday.

The new report will be issued on Monday, 27.2.2012.



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



Source: ARSO