Zermatt

Snowpack

The abundant new snow and wind slabs in the west and south are prone to triggering. In the north, a strong to storm-force southwesterly wind has led to large-scale drifting of the loose snow of the last few days. The wind slabs will be covered with new snow during Thursday night into Friday. Hardly any fractures deeper in the snowpack are to be expected.

Small and medium-sized loose snow avalanches are to be anticipated in the west as a result of solar radiation and milder temperatures during the day.

Gliding avalanches are still possible, primarily on east-, south- and west-facing slopes below approximately 2600 m and more rarely on north-facing slopes below approximately 2200 m. These may be large.

Weather forecast until Friday, 23.02.2024

There will be widespread precipitation during the night, with the most falling in the west and south. During the day it will only continue to snow in the east; it will be fairly sunny elsewhere. The snowfall level will drop rapidly from around 1800 m to low altitudes on Thursday evening.

New snow

From Thursday midday to Friday midday, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above 2200 m:

• Main Alpine Ridge from the Rheinwaldhorn to Val Poschiavo and to the south of this: 40 to 60 cm;
• extreme west of Lower Valais and northern Lower Valais: 20 to 40 cm;
• rest of the Northern Alpine Ridge, the Vaud and Fribourg Alps, rest of Lower Valais, rest of Ticino, rest of Grisons: 15 to 30 cm;
• elsewhere: 5 to 15 cm.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between -6 °C in the north and -2 °C in the south.

Wind

There will be a southwesterly wind:

• this will be strong to storm force during the night;
• it will be mostly weak to moderate during the day.

Weather review for Thursday, 22.02.2024

It was mostly cloudy and there was widespread precipitation. The snowfall level rose rapidly from 1500 m to 2000 m in the north during the night; it was around 1500 m in the south.

New snow

From Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow were recorded above approximately 2400 m:

• extreme west of Lower Valais and northern Lower Valais: 10 to 20 cm;
• western part of the northern flank of the Alps, Gotthard region: 5 to 10 cm; elsewhere: less or it remained dry.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between +3 °C in the north and -2 °C in the south.

Wind

• There were moderate to strong winds during the night and strong to storm-force winds during the day, blowing from the southwest.
• A moderate to strong foehn wind blew in the Alpine valleys of the north.

TrendSaturday, 24.02.2024

Some snow will fall in the west during Friday night into Saturday and then in the south on Saturday afternoon. The snowfall level will remain at low altitudes. During the day it will be sunny at times in the north and cloudy in the south. There will be an increasingly strong southwesterly wind.

The danger of dry avalanches will decrease only gradually. The danger of gliding avalanches will not change significantly.

Sunday, 25.02.2024

In the south, 15 to 30 cm of snow will fall down to low altitudes. It remains unclear how much new snow there will be. It will be sunny at times in the north. There will be an increasingly strong to storm-force southwesterly wind.

The danger of dry avalanches will increase in the south due to new snow. In the north, the avalanche danger will not change significantly.