Snow conditions 30.3.2023

General avalanche danger - Thursday, 30. 3. 2023
Danger is level 2 on the European five-level scale - MODERATE.
Main problem: wind slab, new snow, wet snow
Danger pattern: Spring situation

Risk assessment
Avalanche danger above sea level around 1800 m is MODERATE, level 2. Steeper slopes and places with wind-drifted snow, especially on south-facing slopes, are particularly dangerous. There, with minor loading, you can trigger a slab avalanche of partially bonded snow. Weak layers are also buried in the snowpack, along which the snow from the last snowfall can slide. Lower down, danger is LOW, level 1, due to smaller snow amounts, but individual wet snow avalanches are possible. Wind-exposed locations are scoured to the old base.

Snow conditions
Snow is quite wind-packed, in places to the old, hard base. Newer snow in sheltered and shady locations can still be soft, otherwise covered with a crust formed by wind or regelation (daytime thawing and nighttime freezing) and mostly does not bear human weight. There is a lot of drifted snow on all aspects. Weak layers still persist in the snowpack.

Forecast weather development
On Friday it will be cloudy and foggy. In the morning there will be light precipitation mainly in the western hills and partly in the western and central Karawanks, in the afternoon or evening precipitation, partly showers and thunderstorms, will temporarily spread over most of Slovenia. The snow line will be above 1500 m above sea level, locally lower with intense precipitation. On Saturday and Sunday it will be variably cloudy. Especially midday and afternoon there will be local showers, on Saturday also thunderstorms. The amount of precipitation will be very uneven locally, no larger amounts expected. Hail and graupel will be possible again.

Tendency of snow conditions
Due to less sun on Friday, daytime warming will be less pronounced as well as the difference between sunny and shady slopes. Up to around 20 cm of new snow may fall in the western and southern Julians, less elsewhere. Avalanche conditions will slightly deteriorate in areas with more pronounced amounts of new snow. On Saturday and Sunday mornings will be somewhat cooler, snow may refreeze. During the day conditions will be somewhat worse on sunny slopes, but there too no pronounced melting, as there will be quite variable patchy cloudiness. Spontaneous avalanching will be more the exception. You can trigger a snow avalanche mainly on sufficiently steep slopes, especially at places with drifted snow, and on sunny slopes. Avalanche danger will remain MODERATE, level 2.

Next publication: Friday, 31. 3. 2023

Source: ARSO