Snow conditions in the mountains 7.12.2012

From midweek it has been dry and cold weather here. The snow cover has been settling slowly, transforming only slowly in lower altitudes with sunny weather.

The compacted snow cover mostly reaches the lowlands. At 1000 m above sea level there is snow from 15 to about 30 cm, at 1500 m mostly from 30 to 40 cm, and at 2500 m in the Julian Alps up to about 120 cm.

The snow is mostly light and soft, only on wind-exposed high mountain sites a crust has formed, lower down sometimes due to freezing and daily melting. There is a lot of wind-blown snow.

Avalanche danger is level 2 in the high mountains, below about 1500 m level 1. Especially dangerous are places with wind-blown snow on steeper, bare or grassy slopes.

Tonight and tomorrow, Saturday, it will snow again. By evening, 10 to 15 cm of snow will fall in northern Slovenia, towards the south increasingly more, up to about 40 cm in some southern areas. The snow will be dry, the strengthened northeast wind will transport it into drifts, which will form mainly on the western and southern sides of ridges and passes. It will snow on a mostly soft base, the new snow should bond well with the base. The bond will be weaker mainly where the base is crusted, which is mostly on wind-exposed high mountain locations. Since only about 15 cm of snow will fall in most of our mountains, the avalanche danger is not expected to increase, in the case of heavier snowfall, which is less likely, the avalanche danger could increase to level 3.

On Sunday it will be cold and windy. The northeast wind will continue making drifts and slabs. The new snow will not transform due to low temperatures and will settle only slowly. New report will be issued on Monday, 10.12.2012.



General avalanche danger is level 2 on the European five-level scale.



Source: ARSO