Waadtländer Voralpen

Snowpack

Some of the fresh and somewhat older drift snow and near-surface layers are prone to triggering. Around the crusts in older layers in the upper part of the snowpack, weak layers with a sometimes faceted crystal structure are deposited, especially on shady slopes at high altitudes. Deep layers of the snowpack are compact in many places and for the most part do not contain distinct weak layers.

The snowpack is soaked up to approximately 3000 m on south-facing slopes, up to 2000-2400 m on east- and west-facing slopes, and up to approximately 1800-2000 m on north-facing slopes.

Gliding avalanches are still possible, especially on east-, south- and west-facing slopes below approximately 2600 m and on north-facing slopes below approximately 2000 m. These may be large.

Weather forecast until Saturday, 23.03.2024

After a partly clear night, widespread precipitation will fall in the north during the day. There will also be some bright spells in the afternoon. The snowfall level will drop rapidly from around 2000 m to 1000 m. It will be dry and fairly sunny in the south.

New snow

From Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above 2200 m:

• northern flank of the Alps, not including the Prealps: 10 to 20 cm;
• less elsewhere, dry in the south.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, -5 °C in the north and +1 °C in the south.

Wind

There will be a westerly wind:

• strong to storm force in the north and generally at high altitudes;
• elsewhere light to moderate during the night, increasing during the day.

Weather review for Friday, 22.03.2024

A little precipitation continued to fall in the north and east on Thursday evening. The snowfall level was around 2200 m. The night was partly clear and it was quite sunny during the day.

New snow

A few centimetres fell in some localities.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, around +6 °C.

Wind

• There were moderate to strong northerly winds during the first half of the night on the Northern Alpine Ridge and on and to the south of the Main Alpine Ridge.
• Otherwise winds were mostly light to moderate.

Trend until Monday, 25.03.2024

Snow will continue to fall to low altitudes in the north from Saturday evening until Sunday night into Monday. In Valais, on the Northern Alpine Ridge and in northern Grisons, 20 to 40 cm of snow will fall. In the south, it will be mostly dry and quite sunny during the day. The wind will blow strongly from the west. On Monday it will be sunny in all regions during the day. The zero-degree level will rise a little during the day, moving back towards 2000 m. The wind will be mostly light in the early morning, with moderate winds from the south in the afternoon.

The danger of dry avalanches will increase in the north on Sunday, decreasing again somewhat on Monday. In the other regions, it will remain largely unchanged. In the north, moist snow slides from the new fallen snow are to be expected on Monday as a result of solar radiation and warmer daytime temperatures. Gliding avalanches will still be possible on both days.