Gruyère

Snowpack

With some snow and moderate to strong westerly winds, easily triggered snowdrift accumulations will develop, especially in the west and on the northern flank of the Alps.

The snowpack structure varies from region to region:

• north of a line from the Rhône to the Rhine and in the extreme west of Lower Valais, the snowpack is strongly shaped by the wind in many places. Only on shady slopes protected from the wind is there still loose, faceted snow on the surface, sometimes with surface hoar. The middle part of the snowpack is also often well consolidated and therefore there is little expectation that avalanches will be triggered deep in the old snowpack.
• South of a line from the Rhône to the Rhine, the near-surface layers of the snowpack are shaped by the wind, especially in the vicinity of ridgelines and passes. Particularly in areas with little snow in the south and east, the entire snowpack has become faceted in places. Isolated avalanches may be triggered in weak layers.

Weather forecast to Thursday

During the night, there will be widespread precipitation in the north and west, which will continue into the afternoon. It will remain dry in the inneralpine regions of Grisons. The snowfall level will drop from 1800 m in the west and 1500 m in the east to 1200 m. In the south, some snow will initially fall above 1200 m, and it will be sunny at times during the day.

Fresh snow

Between Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above 2000 m:

• Vaud Alps, extreme west of Lower Valais: 15 to 30 cm
• Remaining western part of the northern flank of the Alps, northern Valais, other regions of Lower Valais, Val Bregaglia, Bernina: 5 to 15 cm
• Elsewhere less or dry

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between -3 °C in the north and -1 °C in the south.

Wind

Turning from southwest to west:

• moderate to strong on the northern flank of the Alps and in the west, strong at high altitudes
• Otherwise mostly moderate

Weather review for Wednesday

It was mostly cloudy. Some precipitation fell at times in the west. The snowfall level has been around 1500 m.

Fresh snow

Between Wednesday morning and Wednesday afternoon above 1800 m:

• Vaud and Fribourg Alps, Lower Valais: up to 5 cm
• Elsewhere: mostly dry.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between 0 °C in the north and -3 °C in the south.

Wind

• Mostly light on the southern flank of the Alps
• Otherwise moderate, occasionally strong from the southeast to southwest

Outlook

In the north it will be partly sunny on Friday. In the south it will be cloudy but dry on Saturday. Otherwise it will be quite sunny and mild in the mountains. There will be moderate to strong southwesterly winds, with a moderate foehn wind blowing in the north.

There will be hardly any change in avalanche danger.