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Highest avalanche situation level in East Tyrol

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Piedmont, Italy - Extreme avalanche situation
Extreme avalanche situation in the Alps

The extreme avalanche situation in East Tyrol was made clear by an avalanche on Saturday evening in Prägraten am Großvenediger. Four houses and one vehicle were damaged. People were not injured. There were other snow avalanches with individual damaged buildings.

The Tyrolean avalanche warning service “imposed” avalanche warning level 5, i.e. very high risk, over East Tyrol. Spontaneous avalanches are to be expected from high catchment areas in the course of the day. In isolated cases they could also be extremely large. But at the same time, the head of the avalanche warning service, Rudi Mair, calmed down a bit. Due to the relatively warm temperatures and sometimes a lot of rain, wet snow avalanches in particular are to be expected, not powder avalanches. The latter would cause greater damage.

The emergency services also had to fight on all fronts due to the enormous rainfall in the state. Governor Günther Platter (ÖVP) assured East Tyrol financial support. District chief Olga Reisner appealed to the population to stay at home.

Lots of fresh snow in Carinthia

In Carinthia, enormous amounts of fresh snow in the Lesach Valley, the Gail Valley and the Upper Möll Valley. This resulted in roadblocks and an extreme avalanche situation. The milder temperatures in lower elevations caused some slopes to slide. Mudslides also blocked the road. The SPÖ regional councilor and disaster control officer Daniel Fellner appealed to the population in all areas affected by the weather to stay in their homes.

All emergency vehicles from the road maintenance depots were in constant use. Fellner asked the population in Upper Carinthia to adhere to the orders of the emergency services: “Please stay in your houses and do not climb the snow-covered roofs to shovel them free”.

After avalanches, some roads were closed, while snow chains were compulsory on others. In the course of the afternoon and towards evening, the snow in Lower Carinthia increasingly turned into rain showers. For the night it was expected that the precipitation would subside, but there should be some stormy wind in the Karawanken valleys.

New highs

According to the first data evaluation, the 24-hour fresh snow amounts at some ZAMG weather stations in the affected areas of the two federal states were in the record range. A “record” was even exceeded. In Umhausen in the Ötztal (1,030 meters above sea level) it snowed around 80 centimeters from Saturday to Sunday, the record for 24 hours there was 45 centimeters from October 2013. Measurements have been made here since 1956.

On the Brenner (1,400 meters) it snowed around 90 centimeters from Saturday to Sunday (record: 100 centimeters, measured in March 1975). In St. Jakob / Defereggen (East Tyrol, 1,283 meters) there was a snow cover of 110 centimeters on Sunday morning, in Döllach in the Upper Mölltal (Carinthia, 1,071 meters) of 97 centimeters and in Sillian (East Tyrol, 1,081 meters) of 89 centimeters.

According to ZAMG, it snowed around 100 to 150 centimeters from Friday to Sunday morning on the mountains of Upper Carinthia, East Tyrol and in the area of ​​the main Tyrolean Alpine ridge. Sometimes a little more. There will be another 50 to 100 centimeters of fresh snow by Monday, according to the forecast. After that, the situation should ease. The foehn storm still reached more than 100 km / h in the mountains on Sunday morning.

(apa, Wiener Zeitung Online)

Obergurgl, Tirol, Austria - extreme avalanche situation
Obergurgl, Tirol, Austria

Avalanche accident kills 1 in Switzerland

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Dec. 8, 2020

Swiss avalanche accident rescue
Stock image, SLF

BERLIN (AP) — An avalanche accident killed one skier in Switzerland.

Authorities in the Swiss canton of Nidwalden said one off-piste skier among a group of five people was killed in an avalanche accident Monday in the Titlis area, south of Lucerne. Rescue teams were not able to resuscitate the 23-year-old Swiss citizen after he was rescued.

The victim died on the scene near the Titlis mountain. Two others, out of five, were also hit but managed to free themselves without serious injury.

The group was skiing off-piste when the avalanche struck at around 10.15am. An investigation into what triggered the avalanche is ongoing.

A 23-year-old German man was also injured in an avalanche accident Monday in Austria’s Hahnenkamm skiing region in Tyrol. He went skiing on a closed slope. He was taken by rescue plane to a hospital in Kempten in Bavaria.

In a broad swath of the Alps in Switzerland, authorities raised the avalanche warning level to 3 on a five-point scale. Exceptionally heavy snowfall was dumped over the weekend. Some higher elevations recorded between 50 and 80 centimeters (20-32 inches) of snow over the last three days.

Snow Pummels Austria, Italy, Germany and Switzerland

Several roads were still closed in Tyrol and some valleys were cut off from the rest of the country. Electricity provider Tinetz said 4,000 homes lost power after several electrical lines were snapped by snow or fallen trees, public broadcaster ORF reported.

Austria issued avalanche warnings Tuesday for the country’s mountainous east after days of heavy snow pummeled the region.

Northern Italy saw massive snowfall over the weekend and snow also hit parts of Germany and Spain as well.

“It’s true that it’s early for the season” to have so much snowfall, said Mikhael Schwander, a meteorologist with Swiss weather service MeteoSuisse. He said the higher the elevation that the snow fell, the greater the risk of avalanches — although that also depends on other factors including the temperature and the types of snow on the ground.

According to SRF Meteo there is an elevated avalanche threat throughout northern Ticino, including Centovalli, and in the southern valleys of Graubünden and the Upper Engadine. In these regions, it’s a Level 4 on the five-part danger scale.

Location of avalanche accident
Location map, from Swiss SLF

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Avalanche Warnings and Snowfall postpone Austrian virus testing

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(AP) — Several communities in the Austrian Alps put mass coronavirus testing on hold Sunday. Others were urged to do the same after a storm dumped huge amounts of snow, sending some avalanche warnings to their highest level.

In East Tyrol, 500 households were left without electricity after trees brought down power lines. The avalanche warning was at its highest level of 5. Several areas in East Tyrol postponed virus testing. In North Tyrol, the avalanche warning was at 4 on Sunday.

Neighboring Italy and Switzerland also issued avalanche warnings, and the Brenner Pass highway between Austria and Italy was partially closed, as were some train connections, APA reported.

More than a meter (three feet) of snow fell within a few hours in the Italian Dolomites and rain burst riverbanks of the Panaro river, forcing a few dozen families to evacuate from the Modena area as a precaution, the ANSA news agency reported.

In Austria, Tyrol authorities told local communities to assess whether the conditions warranted postponing coronavirus testing planned for Sunday. “The safety of the population comes first,” authorities said.

Austria on Friday started a voluntary mass testing program that officials hope will prevent long, hard lockdowns in the future. The fast antigen tests started in Vienna and in the westernmost Vorarlberg and Tyrol provinces. The testing is part of Austria’s strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus even as it starts to ease restrictions this coming week.

Tough lockdown measures that took effect Nov. 17 expire on Sunday. Going ahead, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Austria will allow skiing from Dec. 24 but will keep restaurants, bars and hotels closed until Jan. 7.

A member of French ski team removes snow from a car with a shovel.

Austria avalanche: Skier survives five hours

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27 December 2019

Rescuers have dubbed the survival of a man a “Christmas miracle” after an avalanche in Austria buried him in snow for five hours.

Authorities were contacted shortly before 17:00 (16:00 GMT) on Christmas Day 2019 by a man who said the 26-year-old had not yet returned from skiing.

The man had managed to get through to the skier’s mobile phone but heard only “crackling noises”.

The missing skier was located a couple hours later.

He was found beneath a meter of snow with his avalanche transceiver, which pinpointed the man on Mt Pleschnitzzinken in the north-western area of Upper Styria.

Transceivers are worn on the body and emit an electromagnetic signal. They can also be used in search mode to pick up signals from other devices.

‘Extremely lucky’

A team from the Gröbming mountain rescue and local police dug the man out of the snow and he was taken down to the valley suffering from hypothermia but otherwise unharmed.

“You can’t move under the snow like this,” said Stefan Schröck of the Styria mountain rescue service. “The man was extremely lucky, he had a large enough air pocket under the blanket of snow, so he had oxygen and was able to breathe.”

Surviving for five hours under an avalanche happens only every 20 years in the Alps, according to Mr Schröck. If you are not found within 15 minutes of an avalanche your chances of survival are slim and if you are to survive beyond an hour you need a source of oxygen.

Skier brought out after five hours