Bleniotal

Snowpack

The snowpack is characterised by stormy weather, with peaks, ridgelines and crests often blown off and large, sometimes quite compact snowdrift accumulations at a distance from ridgelines. The new snow and snowdrift from the past week is becoming increasingly settled and compacted. Avalanche fractures are still possible within the newer snowdrift layers. On wind-protected slopes, new snow and snowdrift are lying on a loose, angular old snowpack surface. There, avalanches may also start at the transition to the old snowpack and may be extensive.

With the rain falling on Sunday evening up to around 2600 m and with the rise in temperature and incoming radiation during the day, moist snowslides from the new fallen snow and, increasingly, gliding avalanches are expected. In addition to the avalanche danger, you should also be aware of the risk of slipping on exposed steep terrain in the north when the surface of the snowpack is icy.

Weather forecast until Monday, 25.12.2023

Sunday night will be mostly cloudy in the north and east, but mostly clear in southern Valais and on the central part of the southern flank of the Alps. Some precipitation will fall in the north and east from Sunday evening until the first half of the night, with the snowfall level rising rapidly from 1800 m to 2600 m on Sunday evening. During the second half of the night it will clear from the west and during the day it will be mostly sunny and very mild.

New fallen snow

The following amounts of fresh snow are expected above approximately 2800 m:

• Northern Alpine Ridge from the Wildstrubel to the Ringelspitz, northern Grisons, northern Lower Engadine: 5 to 10 cm, locally up to 15 cm;
• otherwise it will remain dry.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, +6 °C, zero-degree level at 3200 m.

Wind

There will still be a moderate to strong wind on Sunday night in the north and in the high Alpine regions, with a mostly moderate wind during the day and a weak westerly wind in the south and central Grisons.

Weather review for Sunday, 24.12.2023

Saturday night was initially partly cloudy in the east; otherwise it was mostly clear. During the day, it was quite sunny and mild, with patches of cloud in the east. In the afternoon, clouds moved in from the north and light precipitation set in locally. The snowfall level rose from 1500 to around 1800 m.

New fallen snow

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Temperature

The temperature rose. At midday at 2000 m, between +4 °C in the west, +2 °C in the east and +6 °C in the south.

Wind

In the Jura and the Prealps, there was wind from the southwest, otherwise the wind blew from the west to northwest. The winds were still strong to stormy during Saturday night, subsiding somewhat during the day.

Trend until Wednesday, 27.12.2023

Both days will be mostly sunny and mild with patches of cloud. On Tuesday, the zero-degree level will lie at 2600 m in the north and 3000 m in the south. On Wednesday, it will rise widely to 3200 m. The westerly wind will be moderate to strong on Tuesday and weak to moderate on Wednesday.

The danger of dry avalanches will continue to decrease. Gliding avalanches are still expected, even large ones in regions with a lot of snow.