Category: Current situation

Snowpack rapidly becoming wetter According to ZAMG Weather Service, a low over Italy is depositing moist air masses in the lower layers of the atmosphere. Winds are light, conditions variable, prone to showers. Snowfall above 2300 m.  In short: April weather in May. “Steamy” weather, a high degree of moisture is making the snowpack wetter…

Ongoing quite favorable conditions, slight daytime increase in danger The big message: currently (28.04) there are very few avalanche problems. Loose-snow avalanches on extremely steep slopes and small fresh snowdrifts in high-alpine shady terrain are the main dangers. During the course of the day the snowpack surface softens on sunny slopes and loses some of…

Southerly foehn will bring some precipitation, esp. to southern regions Following an extremely dry month of March, April has still not brought much precipitation. A bit is scheduled to arrive starting on Sunday, 24.04 due to foehn influence, especially in southern regions in Tirol (Gurgler Massif incl. East Tirol). Main Alpine Ridge as weather divide on…

 Snowpack becoming moister With clouds moving in during the night of 14.04-15.04, the snowpack will not cool down during the nocturnal hours. Particularly in an altitude belt around 2300m the moistness will then sink down to deeper layers which have been dry until now. Thereby, the snowpack will lose firmness. The likelihood of moist or…

Following snowfall, trigger-sensitive weak layer highly probable due to dp.4 Weak layer caused by dp.4 (cold on warm) In our last Blog we referred to the “small snowdrift problem at high altitudes” and the possible development of Danger pattern “cold on warm” (dp.4). Back then on 07.04 we had no information about the development of a malicious weak layer.…

 Conditions: variable! The first week of April has been highly variable. To start with, formidable amounts of snow with little wind, but strong where there was impact. All this at low temperatures. Subsequently less and less sunshine, with rainfall up to 2000 m, particularly in North Tirol. Rising temperatures. You had your work cut out…

One of the driest months of March in history is behind us. And now, winter is coming back. With the precipitation beginning today, 31.03, the not-quite-driest month of March in measurement history comes to an end. For Innsbruck, however, it was the sunniest March in measurement history. That is now at an end. April with its well…

Following cycle of wet snow, mostly favorable conditions Following a period of avalanche activity until and including Sunday, 20.03.2022, the avalanche situation has quieted down. Due to very dry air masses we are currently recording extremely good nocturnal outgoing longwave radiation of the snowpack, and also delayed softening of the surface during the daytime on…

Water seepage into the snowpack leads to avalanches We have landed in springtime, with a pronounced wet-snow problem. The cause is to be found in the weather and warm temperatures, (diffuse) radiation, dust from the Sahara and relatively high air moisture. Thereby, the snowpack becomes moister and wetter from day to day up to ever…

Increasingly weakened snowpack due to water seepage The time window of nearly perfect conditions and low avalanche danger, for the moment, is over. Springtime is making itself felt. That means the snowpack is becoming moister by the day, due to rising temperatures, increasing air moisture and solar radiation (sometimes diffuse). This process is still heavily…