Snow conditions in the mountains 17.1.2011

Dry and warm weather continues. Snow is settling and transforming, also melting at lower elevations. It freezes at night. By the end of the week, the snowpack has somewhat stabilized further.

In the Julian Alps, at 2500 m there is up to about 360 cm of snow, at 1500 m up to about 80 cm. Elsewhere in our mountains, at 1500 m there is about 10 cm of snow. South-facing slopes are bare in places even above 1500 m. The snowpack is mostly covered with a crust that mostly does not bear human weight. Where snow is wind-scoured, the base is harder and icy in places. Soft snow is only present in the gullies of the high mountains. Lower down, snow is mostly wet and softened, freezing at night but only sufficiently high and in frost hollows.

Avalanche danger in the high Julian Alps, above about 1700 m, is 2nd degree. Avalanches can be triggered by significant additional stress, especially at wind-drifted snow locations and on steeper slopes. Elsewhere in our mountains, the danger is 1st degree. During the day, the snowpack on south-facing slopes thins, and the likelihood of slab avalanches slightly increases. On wind-scoured locations, there is a risk of slips.

Today and tomorrow it will still be sunny and warm. Tomorrow it will cool slightly, with the freezing level dropping to 2200 m a.s.l.

Higher up, snow will freeze. It will cool even more by Wednesday morning, when the freezing level will be at about 1300 m a.s.l. The snowpack will stabilize.

The next report will be issued on Wednesday, 19 January.



General avalanche danger is moderate, i.e. 2nd degree on the European five-level scale.



Source: ARSO