Snow conditions 29.1.2014

On Monday and Tuesday it was cloudy. Occasionally there was light snowfall and about 5 cm of powdery snow fell. It was cold, so the snowpack hardly transformed.



The snowpack mostly reaches down to the lowlands. The most snow is above 2000 m in the western Julian Alps, where there is up to about 400 cm, elsewhere in the Julian Alps up to over 300 cm, in higher parts of the Karawanks and Kamnik-Savinja Alps locally about 190 cm. At 1500 m in the Julian Alps up to about 180 cm, elsewhere less. The height of the snowpack depends greatly on wind exposure. The snow is mostly crusty, the crust formed due to wind, on sun-exposed slopes below about 1700 m also previously due to daytime surface melting and nighttime freezing. On the crust there is up to 10 cm of powder.

Avalanche danger is mostly 3rd degree, only below about 1300 m 2nd degree, depending on snow amount.

The snowpack is primarily potentially unstable. An avalanche can be triggered already by minor loading of the snowpack. Particularly dangerous are areas with wind-packed snow and steep slopes. Spontaneous avalanching is expected to be minimal.



Today there will be dry weather, especially in the high mountains above about 2000 m it will temporarily clear. Already tonight from the southwest it will start snowing again in the western part of our mountains. Tomorrow it will snow, the snow line will rise in the hills of northern Primorska and partly in Notranjska and will be in the afternoon already between 700 and 1000 m above sea level in places. Elsewhere it will rise overnight to Friday. Precipitation will reach the eastern Karawanks and Pohorje tomorrow afternoon and overnight to Friday. By Friday morning the most snow will fall in the Julian Alps area and in the western Karawanks, approximately from 30 to almost 100 cm, the most in the upper Posočje and in the Bohinj hills, elsewhere from 10 to 30 cm, even a bit less on Pohorje and in the extreme east of the Karawanks. The amount of snow will depend greatly also on elevation, especially in areas outside northwestern Slovenia, where the snow line will remain low throughout. Due to the new snow, by Friday morning in the Julian Alps and western Karawanks the avalanche danger will likely increase to 4th degree. Also elsewhere, except in the extreme east, avalanche conditions will worsen.

The next snowpack report will be issued on Friday, 31.1.2014.



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



Source: ARSO