Bex-Villars

The fresh snow and the wind slabs that are forming adjacent to ridgelines can be released by a single winter sport participant at elevated altitudes. In many cases the avalanches are medium-sized. Ski touring calls for experience in the assessment of avalanche danger. The surface of the snowpack will cool hardly at all during the overcast night. Individual wet avalanches are possible. This applies especially on very steep north facing slopes between approximately 2000 and 2600 m.

In areas below approximately 2200 m the precipitation of the last three days fell for the most part as rain, in areas above 2700 m predominantly as snow. There the various layers of fresh snow and freshly generated snowdrifts of the last few days have been deposited atop one another. These layers constitute the main danger for dry-snow avalanches. On south-facing slopes the snowpack is thoroughly wet far up into high alpine regions; on west-facing and east-facing slopes it is wet below approximately 3000 m; and on north-facing slopes below approximately 2600 m. In spite of gray skies and gloomy weather the process of the snowpack becoming thoroughly wet on north-facing slopes progresses apace, even if very slowly.

During the night there were brief intervals of clear skies, otherwise skies were overcast. On Thursday in the eastern regions skies were bright to start with, in the remaining regions of Switzerland skies were overcast. There was intermittent precipitation registered. The snowfall level lay at 2000 m. Fresh snow: Between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon the following amounts of fresh snow were registered above approximately 2600 m:

• Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, +3 °C. Wind: Winds will be blowing intermittently at moderate strength from easterly to northeasterly directions.

Particularly in the eastern regions, nocturnal skies will be predominantly overcast. Thereby, the surface in altitude belts below 2500 m is hardly able to freeze. During the daytime hours on both days, skies will be heavily overcast in the eastern regions, in the western regions skies will be partly sunny. During the afternoon hours, convective cloud build-up is anticipated. In the mountains, showers can be expected. The zero-degree level will lie at approximately 2800 m. The danger of dry-snow avalanches is expected to diminish. The danger of wet-snow avalanches is expected to increase during the course of each day. Backcountry tours and ascents to mountain refuges need to be brought to an end early in the day.