Snow shaped from strong continuous winds
Avatar

Snow shaped from strong continuous winds

by Harald Schellander, ZAMG - Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Austria, Innsbruck, Austria

Snowpack on a mountain ridge at roughly 2700m. Modeling of the spatial distribution of the alpine snow cover poses a great challenge. Snow is a "hot" material whose temperature is always close to the melting point. As such, snow is constantly undergoing a transformation due to highly variable gradients of water vapor pressure. In addition, always present winds cause a lateral snow transport. Modeling this redistribution is a complex challenge itself. Both processes together build the foundation for forming an avalanche.