2014-12-13T07:07:00+01:00 Patrick Nairz 2014-12-13+01:00 https://lawine.tirol.gv.at/data/fotos/wind_20.jpg Fresh snowdrift continues to be the major hazard. The next bulletin will be published tomorrow, 14.12, at 8:00 am. Considerable avalanche danger along Main Alpine Ridge and in East Tirol above 2500 m DP6 DP8 Alpine Weather Forecast (ZAMG-Weather Service Innsbruck) Weather in general: A mild southwesterly airstream continues to influence the weather in the Alps. On the northern flank of the Alps, foehn conditions prevail and it is too mild for this juncture of the season. On the southern flank of the Alps, clouds are beginning to accumulate against the barrier Alps. On Tuesday, a cold front will move in from the northwest. Mountain weather today: The foehn-induced windy weather will persist, no precipitation is anticipated. High altitude cloud cover on the northern flank of the Alps and in the East Tirolean mountains will bring about variable cloudiness, intervals of sunshine and diffuse light. Otherwise, the visibility will be quite adequate, the peaks mostly free of fog. On the Main Alpine Ridge from the Brenner to the Silvretta, cloud will continue to accumulate at the mountain barrier, gradually becoming denser. Temperature at 2000 m: plus 1 degree; at 3000 m: minus 5 degrees. Moderate to strong velocity southwesterly winds; in the Tux Alps and on the Main Alpine Ridge, winds are still stormy. Snow Layering Potential hazards inside the snowpack are currently limited to the uppermost layers. On the one hand, the surface hoar along the Main Alpine Ridge on very steep ridgeline slopes has now been blanketed over. Since yesterday frequently storm-strength winds have been transporting last week’s snow. Fresh snowdrift deposited either atop surface hoar or else at the borderline of loosely packed, cold powder beneath it, can be triggered. Glide cracks in the snow cover and snow stability analysis are indicators that the heightened proneness to triggering of the snowpack is evident in all those places where snowdrift accumulations have been deposited in steep terrain. Avalanche Danger Avalanche peril has increased due to wide ranging snow transport by the wind: above approximately 2500 m the danger level is considerable in some places. This applies to the regions along the Main Alpine Ridge and East Tirol above approximately 2500 m, where particularly in very steep, most often W-NW to N to east facing ridgeline terrain, slab avalanches can be triggered even by minimum additional loading. The snowpack’s proneness to triggering was confirmed yesterday both by snow analysis and by a number of released slab avalanches, which fortunately had no casualties. For that reason we advise circumventing freshly drifted, very steep slopes. The upside is, with some experience in assessing avalanche hazards, the danger zones are easily recognized.