Southern Lepontine Alps

New snow and wind slabs require caution. As the snowfall becomes more intense the avalanche prone locations will become more prevalent from the early morning.

New snow and wind slabs require caution. As the snowfall becomes more intense the avalanche prone locations will become more prevalent from the early morning.

Wind slabs can be released by a single winter sport participant and reach medium size. This applies in particular adjacent to ridgelines and in gullies and bowls at high altitudes and in high Alpine regions, as well as on wind-loaded slopes. In some places avalanches can be triggered in the old snowpack and reach large size in isolated cases. The current avalanche situation calls for careful route selection.

10 to 25 cm of snow, and even more in some localities, will fall until the evening above approximately 2000 m. As a consequence of a strong northeasterly wind, sometimes deep wind slabs formed on Saturday adjacent to ridgelines and in gullies and bowls as well as in high Alpine regions. As a consequence of new snow and strong wind the wind slabs will increase in size additionally as the day progresses. The fresh snow as well as the wind slabs are bonding poorly with the old snowpack in some places in particular on very steep sunny slopes. The spring-like weather conditions gave rise to gradual consolidation of the snowpack in particular on sunny slopes below approximately 2600 m, also on shady slopes below approximately 2200 m.