Pays d'Enhaut

Snowpack

After a long spell of fine weather, there was widespread snowfall last weekend. This was deposited on bare ground on southern slopes below approximately 2800 m and on northern slopes below approximately 2000 m. On shady slopes above approximately 2400 m and generally in the high Alpine regions, however, the fresh snow often fell on faceted weak layers. These are still prone to triggering.

In addition, with new fallen snow and weak to moderate westerly winds, mostly small snowdrift accumulations will form that are prone to triggering, especially in the north and at high altitudes.

Outlook

On Friday, except on the southern flank of the Alps, some snow will fall across a wide area down to low altitudes. It will often be cloudy in the south as well. On Saturday, the snowfall will end in the northeast too, but it will remain cloudy there. It will be mostly sunny in the west and south. On both days it will be cold with around -10 °C at 2000 m and moderate northeasterly winds. In total, another 10 to 20 cm of snow will fall in the north from Thursday evening to Saturday morning, and up to 30 cm along the central Prealps. 5 to 15 cm of snow is expected in Lower Valais and Grisons, otherwise less.

Avalanche risk will increase somewhat, especially over much of the northern flank of the Alps. There will be little change in other regions. Isolated avalanches may be triggered not only in fresh snowdrift accumulations but also in the old snowpack, especially on northern slopes above 2400 m and in high Alpine regions.