Oberflächenreif

The indication of altitude in conjunction with avalanche problems and danger levels is the backbone of the avalanche warning. In most cases, the delineations are surprisingly accurate.

The Alpine region is still under the influence of an Omega high. The snow cover continues to build up at higher altitudes and on the shaded side, while there is something similar to firn on steep, lower southern slopes. Surface frost can also be found, but only rarely due to the low humidity in relation to the amount of radiant nights.

Periods of fine weather with wintry temperatures trigger massive build-up transformation processes in early winter, or when the snow cover is not very thick. This is usually not a problem during the fine weather phase, but is definitely problematic when the weather changes.

The WeatherBlog is currently located in an area of the world, somewhere between so-called Styria and so-called Carinthia, where there is only sometimes and even then only shaky, minute-by-minute free Internet. As the weather forecast by looking out of the window only works to a limited extent, we leave the current events, if they are relevant in terms of powder, to our colleague the Oracle.

The snowfall of the past few days has created a tense avalanche situation. At the end of the week, a warm front will bring very mild temperatures and rain up to high altitudes. At the weekend, the signs in the Eastern Alps are pointing to a northern thaw.

Low pressure system Olivia brings the post-Valentine's Day powder announced by our colleague Oracle and finally puts an end to the eastern frost. After an impressive cold spell, the Atlantic slowly regains its importance.

In Austria and Switzerland, this year's November will go down in history as the November with the least precipitation since measurements began. Temperatures were well above average at higher altitudes, but a little too cold for the time of year in the high fog basins.

When analyzing hundreds of mostly tragic avalanche accidents, Rudi and Patrick discovered that most accidents occur in typical, recurring hazard patterns. They therefore developed 10 typical, particularly accident-prone and frequent hazard patterns. Recognizing these avalanche hazard patterns should help winter sports enthusiasts to behave with appropriate caution – and thus avoid accidents.