Pays d'Enhaut

Snowpack

The fresh snow and strong to storm-force northwesterly winds will cause snowdrift accumulations which are prone to triggering to develop in the high Alpine regions overnight to Thursday. The largest of these will be situated along the northern Alpine ridge from the Bernese Oberland to the Glarus Alps and in northern Grisons.

On Thursday, moist loose snow avalanches are to be expected in the sunshine in the areas with fresh snow.

Conditions in the high Alpine regions were wintry last week as well. Below 3000 m the fresh snow from the last few weeks is lying on top of water-saturated old snowpack. On north-facing slopes above around 3000 m and on other exposures above around 3500 m, the snow that fell over the last week is lying on snowpack that is often still dry. Some large-scale avalanches triggered by ski tourers in the high Alpine regions indicate that the old snowpack in these regions contains some distinct weak layers. These are still likely to be prone to triggering in places.

OutlookFriday and Saturday

The night to Friday will see some clear spells, and the night to Saturday will be mostly clear. On both days conditions will mostly be sunny and very warm. Skies will be virtually cloudless on Friday. On Saturday, cumulus cloud will form over the mountains and isolated showers and thunderstorms may occur during the afternoon. The zero-degree level will be around 4000 m. On Friday winds will be moderate from northerly directions, while on Saturday winds will be light.

The risk of dry avalanches will slowly decrease in the high Alpine regions. As temperatures rise in the sunshine, the snowpack will become increasingly moist even in the high Alpine regions. As the most recent snow layers start to moisten for the first time in the high Alpine regions, there will be an increased likelihood of avalanches being triggered over the course of each day.

The risk of spontaneous wet avalanches will also increase over the course of each day. Ski touring should be started early and finished in good time.