Pays d'Enhaut

Snowpack

At the beginning of the week, there was still dry snow on the surface of the snowpack only on steep north-facing slopes in the high Alpine regions. With strong westerly winds and some new snow, in recent days rather small wind slabs have formed locally at high altitudes. With the intensification of the snowfall and strong northwesterly winds in places, more extensive wind slabs that are increasingly prone to triggering will develop on Wednesday.

The old snowpack is thoroughly moist up to over 3000 m on east-, south- and west-facing slopes, and up to around 2500 m on north-facing slopes. Owing to falling temperatures, wet and gliding avalanche activity has decreased appreciably. Gliding avalanches are still possible in very isolated cases.

Weather forecast until Wednesday, 17.04.2024

It will be very cloudy in the north and there will be widespread precipitation from Tuesday evening onwards. The focus of the precipitation will be in the typical areas of orographic lift on the northern flank of the Alps. The snowfall level will be between 600 and 900 m.

South of the Main Alpine Ridge, it will be quite sunny with patches of cloud.

New snow

From Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above approximately 1400 m:

• extreme west of Lower Valais, Northern Alpine Ridge: 20 to 40 cm, up to 50 cm from the east of the Bernese Alps to the Glarus Alps;
• other regions of the northern flank of the Alps, Lower Valais, the Gotthard region and northern Grisons, northern Lower Engadine: 15 to 30 cm;
• elsewhere: less, largely dry south of the Main Alpine Ridge.

Temperature

Temperatures will fall, reaching between -6 °C in the north and -3 °C in the south at midday at 2000 m.

Wind

There will be moderate to strong winds at high altitudes and in the south, otherwise there will be a mostly moderate northwesterly wind.

Weather review for Tuesday, 16.04.2024

In the north, it was cloudy with showers and bright spells. Due to the significant drop in temperatures, the snowfall level fell to around 1000 m during the night. It was partly sunny in the inneralpine regions. South of the Main Alpine Ridge, it was mostly sunny with northerly winds.

New snow

From Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow were recorded above approximately 1800 m:

• regions north of a line between the Rhone and Rhine, extreme west of Lower Valais: 10 to 15 cm, up to 20 cm in northern Valais;
• elsewhere: a few centimetres locally, dry in the south.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between -5 °C in the north and -1 °C in the south.

Wind

• There was a moderate to strong wind, with a strong to storm-force westerly to northwesterly wind at times at high altitudes.
• There was a moderate to strong northerly wind in the south.

Trend until Friday, 19.04.2024

It will remain cold and, except in the far south, the snowfall will continue until Thursday night into Friday. The snowfall level will be between 500 and 800 m. The focus of the precipitation will continue to be in the areas of orographic lift on the northern flank of the Alps. On Friday, it will initially be sunny in the north in the morning, before clouds and precipitation move in as the day progresses. From Wednesday evening to Friday evening, a further 15 to 30 cm of snow is expected in the north above approximately 1400 m, with up to 40 cm expected in the areas of orographic lift. On Thursday, there will be a mostly moderate northeasterly wind, with a Bise wind in the Jura and the Prealps. On Friday, the wind will shift to the west and will freshen up as the day progresses. South of the Main Alpine Ridge, it will remain largely dry and it will be partly sunny on both days. The moderate to strong foehn wind from the north will ease on Friday.

The danger of dry avalanches will increase slightly on Thursday on a widespread basis and will not change significantly on Friday. In central and southern Ticino, the avalanche danger will hardly change.

In the regions exposed to a lot of new snow, slides are to be expected on cut slopes that had previously been free of snow.