New snow
- Above 2,600 m
Snowpack
New and drifted snow from the last few days is sometimes prone to triggering, particularly at high altitudes. Most of it is located on the Main Alpine Ridge from Val Bregaglia to the Bernina region and on the central part of the southern flank of the Alps, where the most snow will also fall on Friday.
The old snowpack is water-saturated on southern slopes up to the high Alpine regions, on eastern and western slopes up to around 3000 m, and on northern slopes up to a maximum of 2800 m. Significant cooling prevented the progression of the saturation of the snowpack. However, individual wet snow avalanches and superficial snow slides are still possible.
Weather forecast to Friday
Conditions will be mostly cloudy. There will be widespread snowfall above approximately 1800 m, mainly in the south. During the day there will be a few bright spells in the west and along the Main Alpine Ridge.
Fresh snow
From Thursday evening to Friday evening, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above approximately 2200 m:
Temperature
At midday at 2000 m, around +3 °C
Wind
Mainly light
Weather review for Thursday
Some snow fell in some regions during the night into Thursday, in the north above approximately 1600 m and in the south above approximately 2000 m. During the day it was cloudy in the north, with bright spells in Valais, Ticino and Engadine.
Fresh snow
From Wednesday evening to Thursday evening, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above approximately 2200 m:
Temperature
At midday at 2000 m, between 0 °C in the northeast and +3 °C in the other regions
Wind
Light to moderate from northerly directions
Outlook
On Saturday and Sunday it will be quite sunny after a clear night. As the day progresses, there will be cumulus clouds and isolated showers. The zero-degree level will be 2700 m on Saturday and 2900 m on Sunday. The wind will be mostly light on both days.
The danger of dry avalanches will decrease, but only slowly on north-facing slopes in the high Alpine regions. On Saturday, loose snow avalanches are expected from the new fallen snow up to the high Alpine regions as a result of solar radiation and warmer temperatures. The danger of wet avalanches will increase during each day.
Bulletin data: WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF (CC BY 4.0)