Wildhorn

Moderate avalanche danger will be encountered over a wide area. Wind slabs require caution

Moderate avalanche danger will be encountered over a wide area. Wind slabs require caution

The mostly small wind slabs of the last few days are in some cases still prone to triggering. They are to be found in particular in gullies and bowls, and behind abrupt changes in the terrain. Avalanches can in some places be released by people, but they will be small in most cases. The wind slabs are to be evaluated with care and prudence in very steep terrain.

New snow and snowdrifts from the last few days lie deposited atop an unfavourable old snowpack surface in many places and are prone to triggering from place to place. Beneath them the snowpack layering in the Jura region, on the northern flank of the Alps and in the western part of the Lower Valais is predominantly favourable. Only in those areas of the rain crust which formed at the end of December are there in places faceted, soft layers evident which in isolated cases are still prone to triggering. From the central part of the Valais over the northern Ticino as far as Grisons, the entire snowpack is often expansively metamorphosed (faceted) and riddled with thin melt-freeze crusts. In places there, the snow is shallow, you sink down to the ground. In the furthermost southern regions there is very little snow on the ground.

In southern regions during the nocturnal and the morning hours, cloud cover moved through. In the other regions of Switzerland it was sunny, following a night of clear skies. Fresh snow: - Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, between +2 °C in the western regions and -3 °C in the eastern regions. Wind: Winds were blowing from northerly directions: - during the nighttime hours on the northern Alpine Ridge and on the Main Alpine Ridge still at moderate to strong velocity in some places; - slackening off during the daytime hours, blowing mostly at light to moderate strength. Following a night of clear skies it will be sunny in the mountains during the daytime. Fresh snow: - Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, between +3 °C in the western and the southern regions, and 0 °C in the eastern regions. Wind: Winds will be light, blowing at moderate strength at high altitudes, from northeasterly directions.

Following nights of clear skies it will be sunny on both days in the mountains. On Tuesday, winds will be blowing at light to moderate strength, at some places in the southern regions at strong velocity, and on Wednesday at moderate strength at high altitudes, from northwesterly directions. Avalanche danger levels are expected to decrease further.