Rätikon West

Caution urged in little-tracked shady terrain. Attention: daytime warming.

Caution urged in little-tracked shady terrain. Attention: daytime warming.

Near-surface weak layers are still prone to triggering, esp. on seldom-tracked shady steep slopes. One sole skier can trigger a small-to-medium loose-snow or slab avalanche. Apart from the danger of being buried in snow masses, the risks of being swept along and forced to take a fall require adequate caution. On steep grass-covered slopes with sufficient snow on the ground or atop smooth ground, isolated small-to-medium glide-snow avalanches are possible. In rocky terrain, increasingly frequent slides and small loose-snow avalanches are possible.

High-altitude shady slopes have small snowdrifts atop often faceted weak soft layers, bonding is often inadequate. At night a breakable crust forms, sometimes capable of bearing loads. On steep north-facing slopes, there is still powder. The old snowpack is well consolidated. On sunny slopes and at lower altitudes the fresh snow will fall on bare ground, the snow is often moist

Clear nighttime skies and cold. On Thursday, sunshine all day, only a few thin clouds above summit level. Low air moisture, excellent visibility in high-alpine regions. At 2000m 0 to +4 degrees. Light S/W winds at high altitudes.

In foehn-impacted regions, fresh snowdrifts can be generated in follow-up days. Due to further rise in temperatures, increasingly frequent wet-snow avalanches can be expected.