Obersaxen - Safiental

A favourable avalanche situation will prevail

A favourable avalanche situation will prevail

Individual avalanche prone locations are to be found on very steep shady slopes. Avalanches can in very isolated cases be released in the old snowpack. As a consequence of a moderate to strong northerly wind, small wind slabs will form at elevated altitudes. Apart from the danger of being buried, restraint should be exercised as well in view of the danger of avalanches sweeping people along and giving rise to falls.

The snowpack structuring on the northern flank of the Alps is favourable over widespread areas. Stability tests (rutschblock and ECT's) broke particularly at medium or high loading in a weak layer on or beneath the rain crust which formed at the end of December. From the central Valais over the northern Ticino as far as Grisons, there are weak layers deeper down inside the snowpack. In these layers, individual stability tests broke. Nevertheless, hardly any further avalanche triggerings have been registered in the deep old snow for a longer period of time. At high altitudes, loose old snow will be transported as a result of the northwesterly winds, and snowdrift accumulations will generate from place to place. These accumulations are located in gullies and bowls more than anywhere else and are generally small sized.

Following a night of clear skies it was sunny in the mountains. Fresh snow: - Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, between -2 °C in the northern regions and +3 °C in the southern regions. Wind: - Winds in the northern regions were blowing at light to moderate strength, at high altitudes at strong velocity in some places, from westerly directions; - in the southern regions, winds were light, during the afternoon blowing at moderate to strong velocity from northerly directions. In the northern regions, clouds will move in on Sunday night, in the Valais and in the Ticino the nighttime skies will remain clear. During the daytime on Monday, skies will be variably cloudy to heavily overcast in the northeastern regions and a small amount of snowfall is anticipated down to low lying areas. In the other regions of Switzerland it will be predominantly sunny. Fresh snow: Central and eastern sectors of the northern flank of the Alps, as well as northern Grisons: only a few centimetres. Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, between -2 °C in the southwestern regions and -7 °C in the northeastern regions. Wind: - Winds in the northern regions will be blowing at light to moderate strength, at strong velocity in some places at high altitudes, from northwesterly directions; - winds in the southern regions will be blowing at strong velocity from northerly directions.

Following nights of predominantly clear skies it will be mostly sunny in the mountains during the daytime. Winds on Tuesday will be blowing at light strength from easterly directions, on Wednesday at light-to-moderate strength from westerly directions. On Tuesday in the northern regions it will be somewhat warmer, the zero-degree level will ascend to 2400 m, on Wednesday it will again descend to 1600 m. In the southern regions it will lie at approximately 1600 m on both days. Avalanche danger levels are not expected to change significantly.