Snow conditions in the mountains 1.1.2013
31.12.2012
Since Friday, the weather in the mountains has been dry and also relatively warm. The layer of air with temperatures above freezing has changed from day to day, both in thickness and altitude. Due to the warming, the snow cover has transformed faster during the day, especially on sun-exposed slopes, and initially became somewhat labile, so that individual small avalanches of wind-packed snow have released from steeper slopes. In the gullies, the snow has remained poorly transformed..
The snow cover extends to an altitude of about 1100 m. The snow is mostly covered with a crust, but in the gullies it is still soft. Snow conditions are very varied, from soft to crusty snow, and in places there is an old, partly icy base. The most areas with wind-packed snow are on the southern and southwestern sides of ridges and passes. At 2500 m in the Julians there is about 140 cm of snow, at 1500 m up to 40 cm. Elsewhere in our mountains at 1500 m there is snow from 15 to less than 30 cm.
The avalanche danger in the high mountains of the Julian Alps is currently still 3rd degree, elsewhere and lower 1st to 2nd degree, depending on altitude. Steeper slopes and places with wind-packed snow are dangerous, where an avalanche can be triggered even by minor loading. The possibility of slab release increases during the day on sun-exposed slopes. In the mid-mountains and at places where snow is wind-blown, there is also a risk of slipping on icy surfaces.
The weather is changing today. In the heights, colder air is slowly arriving, so the freezing level will already be at sea level altitude of about 1800 m this evening, tomorrow at about 1000 m. Tomorrow it will snow in the mountains, but only 5 to maximum 10 cm of snow will fall. It will bond poorly with the base, the wind will blow much of it into drifts. Due to the cooling, the old snow cover will somewhat stabilize, the new snow will simultaneously somewhat worsen avalanche conditions.
New report will be issued on Wednesday, 2.1.2013
General avalanche danger is 3rd degree on the European five-degree scale.
Source: ARSO