Saas Fee

Considerable avalanche danger will be encountered in some regions

Considerable avalanche danger will be encountered in some regions

In very isolated cases avalanches can be released in the old snowpack and reach medium size. These avalanche prone locations are to be found especially on very steep north facing slopes. In addition the wind slabs of the last few days are prone to triggering in some cases. Careful route selection is recommended.

Fresh snow and snowdrift accumulations from recent days are still prone to triggering in some places. On the northern flank of the Alps the snowpack is quite favourably structured over widespread areas. Avalanches can be triggered in particular in near-to-surface layers. From the southern Valais over the northern Ticino into the inneralpine regions of Grisons, there are weak layers threatening inside the old snowpack. From these layers isolated large-sized avalanches were triggered by persons during the last week. These avalanche prone locations are not detectable. On the southern flank of the Alps there is extraordinarly little snow on the ground, at many measurement stations there is less snow for this juncture of the season than has ever before been measured. The snowpack shows immense effects of wind-impact and is irregular.

During the nocturnal hours in the northern regions there was snowfall registered down to low lying areas. In the western and the southern regions, nighttime skies were partially clear. During the daytime it was predominantly sunny. Only further east did the residual cloud partially impair the sunshine during the morning. Fresh snow: Between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning: - central and eastern sectors of the northern flank of the Alps: 15 to 25 cm; - eastern part of Bernese Oberland, Goms, northern Grisons: 5 to 15 cm; - in the other regions of Switzerland, only a few centimetres; or else it remained dry. Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, between -4 °C in the western and southern regions and -9 °C in the eastern regions. Wind: - Winds were blowing at moderate to strong velocity from northerly to northeasterly directions; - in the Jura region and the western Prealps, a strong bise wind was blowing in some places during the daytime. 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 -4 °C in the western regions and -8 °C in the eastern regions. Wind: Winds will be predominantly light to moderate, increasingly strong on the northern flank of the Alps during the course of the day, from easterly directions.

On both days it will be sunny in the mountains and gradually turn milder. At high altitudes and in southern regions a frequently strong-velocity northeasterly wind will be blowing on Monday in particular. The danger of dry-snow avalanches is expected to decrease, however only incrementally in the inneralpine regions. On steep sunny slopes, gliding avalanches continue to be possible.