New snow fell in the Slovak mountains, the snowfall will continue on Sunday, accompanied by strong winds and even gales. In the High and Western Tatras, it is valid in the morning moderate avalanche danger, increasing to elevated in the afternoon. In Mala and Veľká Fatra and the Low Tatras, the avalanche threat above the forest zone is moderate. The Avalanche Prevention Center of the Mountain Rescue Service (SLP HZS) informed about it.
“The main avalanche problem is snow blown by the wind, all orientations are dangerous. Avalanche release is possible even with a small additional load, especially on steep slopes.” said SLP.
According to him, tourists must be careful narrow gullies, lee sides of ridges and places under rock walls. Here you can find wind-blown boards and pillows that are placed on a hard surface. These two layers are weakly interconnected. Moderate spontaneous avalanches, mainly from new snow, can occasionally occur.
In the last 48 hours, up to 30 centimeters of new, mainly powdery snow. Due to the strong wind, it is blown into the gutters and on the leeward sides of the ridges, or into the forest area. The ridges of the mountains are blown into hard, sometimes even rocky ground.
There is still loose powdery snow in the forest zone. 20 centimeters of new snow will fall on Sunday. “However, the snowfall will be accompanied by gale-force winds, so the snow cover will be very unevenly distributed and blown into hard slabs and pillows,” SLP warned that it does not recommend movement in high-altitude terrain.
Likewise, windblown snow is the main avalanche problem inabout the Fatras and the Low Tatras, all orientations are dangerous there. “The release of avalanches is possible mainly with a large additional load. Small to medium avalanches are expected, which pose a risk especially in combination with terrain traps,” SLP added.
In the Fatras and Low Tatras, up to 15 centimeters of new powder snow fell during the last snowfall periodwhich is very unevenly distributed due to the strong wind and is blown into hard boards and pillows. There is still loose powdery snow in the forest zone. The ridges are blown into the hard, sometimes rocky ground. During Sunday, up to 15 centimeters of new powdery snow will fall there, the snowfall will be accompanied by a very strong wind. SLP also does not recommend movement there.
