Waadtländer Voralpen

Snowpack

South of a line from the Rhône to the Rhine, there are distinct weak layers in the lower part of the snowpack. Before last week's snowfall, the entire old snowpack in Ticino, central Grisons, the Engadine and the Grisons southern valleys was often faceted and loose, especially on shady slopes protected from the wind. In such places, avalanches can take the entire snowpack with them. Fractures in the snowpack can spread over large distances. Avalanche fractures are therefore often extensive and avalanches can sometimes be triggered remotely. The number of avalanche prone locations will decrease only slowly.

North of a line from the Rhône to the Rhine avalanches are mostly expected in weak layers in the upper part of the snowpack. The fresh drift snow is also prone to triggering in places. Fractures in deep layers of the old snowpack are not generally expected here.

Mostly medium-sized gliding avalanches are still expected.

Weather forecast to Sunday

A few snowflakes will still fall in the south during the first half of the night. During the day, it will be sunny in all regions in the mountains.

Fresh snow

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Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, around 0 °C.

Wind

Light to moderate southerly winds during the night, light winds during the day

Weather review for Saturday

It was very cloudy in the south and snow fell above 1000 m. In the north, it was quite sunny in the mountains.

Fresh snow

From Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow fell above 1400 m:

• Main Alpine Ridge of Upper Valais, central part of the southern flank of the Alps: 10 to 15 cm.
• elsewhere: a few centimetres, or dry

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, around -2 °C.

Wind

Moderate to strong along the Northern Alpine Ridge, otherwise light to moderate from southerly directions

Outlook

Monday and Tuesday will be sunny and mild in the mountains. The zero-degree level will increase on Monday from the west towards 2600 m. On Tuesday it will be at 2800 m. There will be mostly light winds.

The danger of dry avalanches will continue to decrease, but only very slowly in Valais, Ticino and Grisons. In these regions, the avalanche situation remains critical for off-piste snow sports due to the weak snow layering.