The season report of the SLF mainly contains information on weather patterns and snowpack development, as well as avalanche activity (frequency, patterns, ...) and the issued danger levels. As usual, the report of the Austrian warning services also contains impressive accident descriptions and is made up of a general section and contributions from the individual federal states (and South Tyrol and Switzerland). The Swiss will publish a separate report on avalanches with personal injury and property damage at the beginning of 2017.
The winter of 2015/16 was the second warmest on record in Austria and Switzerland (2006/07 was warmer). There were many westerly and south-westerly conditions, especially in the height of winter. Overall, precipitation in Austria was slightly above the long-term average, although there was a relatively large amount of rain. In Switzerland, snow depths were quite average in the west and below average in the east and south. The zero degree line was very high, especially between the end of October and the beginning of January. Below 1400 m, snow depths were well below average throughout Switzerland. Due to the non-existent snow situation, some of the Austrian warning services did not start issuing regular situation reports until January 11 - later than ever before.