Bleniotal

Snowpack

The new snow from the period of precipitation from Wednesday to Friday is lying on a damp or hard surface, and is therefore quite favourable. Before the snowfall, the surface of the snowpack was still dry and loose in places only on northern slopes in the high Alpine regions. In the south in particular, the northerly wind transported the new snow intensely at times. The instabilities within the layers of new and drifted snow are stabilising rapidly. However, as a consequence of solar radiation, wet loose snow avalanches are to be expected on Saturday, especially in the north.

The old snowpack is water-saturated on southern slopes up to the high Alpine regions and on eastern and western slopes up to around 3000 m. On northern slopes, most of the old snowpack is water-saturated up to between 2600 and 2800 m. Particularly in the inneralpine regions of Grisons, fractures in the old snowpack are still possible at this altitude when weak layers initially become moist.

Weather forecast to Saturday

The night into Saturday will be mostly clear, especially in the west and south, but only partly clear in the east. In the late morning, it will be mostly sunny in the mountains. In the afternoon, cumulus clouds will form and isolated showers cannot be completely ruled out.

Fresh snow

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Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between +2 °C in the north and +5 °C in the south

Wind

• Significantly decreasing northerly wind on Friday evening on the Main Alpine Ridge and in the south
• Sometimes moderate Bise wind along the Prealps on Saturday
• Elsewhere mostly light

Weather review for Friday

The night was overcast in the north and partly clear in Valais and the south. During the day, it was mostly very cloudy in the north and mostly quite sunny in Valais and the south. Little precipitation fell, especially in the northeast, falling as snow above 1600 m.

Fresh snow

From Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow fell above approximately 2000 m:

• Central and eastern parts of the northern flank of the Alps: 5 to 10 cm, locally up to 20 cm.
• Otherwise less or it remained dry

This means that the following amounts have fallen above approximately 2200 m since the start of the precipitation at noon on Wednesday:

• Central and eastern parts of the northern flank of the Alps, Main Alpine Ridge from Obergoms to the Corvatsch area: 20 to 40 cm, in Moesano up to 50 cm
• Extreme west of Lower Valais, remaining part of the Main Alpine Ridge, northern and central Grisons, rest of Engadine: 10 to 20 cm
• Less elsewhere

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, around 0 °C in the north and +4 °C in the south

Wind

• Mostly moderate from northerly directions on the Main Alpine Ridge, foehn wind from the north on the southern flank of the Alps
• Elsewhere mostly light.

Outlook

The nights into Sunday and Monday will be overcast on the Main Alpine Ridge and south of it, and partly clear north of there. During the day it will initially be quite sunny in the north. As the day progresses, it will be increasingly cloudy and showers and thunderstorms are possible. In the south, it will be partly cloudy with showers on Sunday, quite sunny in the late morning on Monday and increasingly cloudy with showers in the afternoon.

The risk of dry avalanches will decrease. As the day progresses, wet and gliding avalanches will be possible, especially in the north as a consequence of solar radiation.