Snow conditions in the mountains 21.1.2013

On Friday during the day it was still lightly snowing and up to about 10 cm of snow fell. On Saturday during the day it was dry weather, but in the evening and night to Sunday it lightly snowed again in the Julian Alps. During the precipitation, the snow line rose to about 1800 m on Sunday. By this morning it had already dropped to about 1500 m. Below the snow line, rain soaked the snow cover, and due to the thaw the snow settled quickly. On Pohorje and in the eastern Karawanks there was little precipitation, so the snow there did not absorb as much water. Above the snow line, 10 to over 30 cm of snow fell, the most in the Julian Alps. The new snow bonded well with the base.

The snow cover reaches the lowlands. The snow is wet and soft, but in the high mountains there is quite some new snow which is light and sinks deeply under human weight. On wind-exposed sites in the high mountains, the southwest wind formed new drifts and slabs.

At 2500 m in the Julian Alps there is about 250 cm of snow, at 1500 m about 120 cm. Elsewhere in our mountains at 1500 m there is 30 to 50 cm of snow. At 1000 m the snow cover is about 30 cm thick.

The avalanche danger is considerable, specifically in the high mountains due to the new snow, and lower down due to the wet snow cover. In most of the Julian Alps and the western Karawanks it is 4th degree.

Elsewhere in the mountains it is mostly 3rd degree. Dangerous are primarily sites with wind-packed snow, steeper slopes, also in the mid-mountains where there are steep grassy slopes along which wet snow slab avalanches can release. Even with minor loading of the snow cover you can trigger higher up an avalanche of new, poorly bonded snow; spontaneous avalanches from steeper slopes are also possible.

Conditions will gradually calm. Today's precipitation will weaken, the snow line will drop below 1000 m above sea level by afternoon. It is already cooling at higher elevations. The freezing level will drop to about 600 m above sea level by tomorrow morning. The cooling will gradually stabilize the snow cover. However, due to new snow falling on wet snow, the snow cover will cool slowly, so it will remain more unstable for another day or so. In the high mountains the new snow will remain unstable and avalanche danger will therefore decrease only gradually. Thus for today and tomorrow we still expect spontaneous sloughing from steep slopes, and even some slab avalanches can trigger at lower elevations.

The new report will be issued on Wednesday, 23.1.2013



The general avalanche danger is considerable, i.e. 4th degree on the European five-level scale.



Source: ARSO