Snow report Alpenostrand, 01/15/2021

Snow condition

As described by the oracle, only remnants of the current PowderAlert have found their way to the far east (Upper Mürztal). Thanks to the consistently low temperatures, however, a deep winter atmosphere has now set in all the way down (valley locations here go up to 700m). In fact, the snow conditions in the valley are not that bad, the problem is that the base is so extremely thin right up to the top. Therefore, the situation still has to be characterized as poor snow conditions.

Snow quality

The fresh snow fell in consistently cold conditions, but unfortunately with varying wind speeds. In some places, "stormy" conditions penetrated right down into the valley, and it was probably constantly windy/stormy at the top. Nevertheless, the fresh snow is still very loose and easy to ski.

Today I was only on farm meadows below the tree line, where there are no concerns. Due to the storm of the past few days and the poorly built-up, thin old snow cover, the LWD has issued a three for further up. However, we are still a long way from the extreme situation in the western parts of Austria (as reported here in the CRs through the observation of cracks, booming noises, etc.).

Overall impression

The situation is slowly improving, and not just visually. However, the usual program for mid-January is still not working here. More snowfall is forecast for the next few days, so the trend should slowly move towards 3 stars.