Saas Fee

Snowpack

Since Saturday, a widespread 80 to 150 cm of snow has fallen in the north, accompanied by strong to stormy westerly to northerly winds. The new and drifted snow is covering a faceted weakly bonded old snowpack, especially on west-, north- and east-facing slopes. However, the thick layer covering the weakly bonded old snow should have a positive effect in the coming days and reduce probable triggering in the old snow. The situation is more critical in southern Valais and from northern Ticino through northern Grisons to Lower Engadine, where the weakly bonded old snow is covered by around 50 to 80 cm of snow. South of this region, in central and southern Grisons and in central Ticino, there is still little snow, and the thin old snowpack is mainly fully faceted and loose. It is lightly covered with fresh snowdrift accumulations, but these are prone to triggering.

Weather forecast to Wednesday, 25 December 2024

Conditions will be sunny.

Fresh snow

-

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m between +2 °C in the west and south and -1 °C in the east

Wind

• moderate northeasterly wind at altitude
• rising Bise wind in the western Prealps and the Jura

Weather review for Tuesday, 24 December 2024

Snow continued to fall in the north during the night. During the day, snowfall subsided and it became sunny from the west. In the south, it remained mostly dry and was mostly sunny during the day.

Fresh snow

The following amounts of snow fell from Monday to Tuesday afternoon

• northern Lower Valais, Urn and Glarus Alps, Tujetsch and northern Surselva: 30 to 50 cm
• other regions north of the Rhone-Rhine, southern Lower Valais, Goms, Gotthard region, Prättigau: 20 to 30 cm
• Jura, Val d'Anniviers, Turtmann, Visp valleys and Simplon area, rest of northern Grisons, Filisur-Bergün to the Julier Pass, northern Lower Engadine: 10 to 20 cm
• a few centimetres or dry further south.

In total, the following amounts of snow fell above 1500 m between Saturday evening and Tuesday afternoon:

• northern Alpine ridge, Gotthard region: 100 to 150 cm
• rest of northern flank of the Alps except for the Prealps, rest of Valais: 60 to 90 cm
• Prealps, rest of northern Grisons, western Jura: 40 to 60 cm
• central Grisons, Engadine north of the Inn: 20 to 40 cm
• other regions: less than 20 cm or dry

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m around -6 °C in the west and south and -10 °C in the east

Wind

Northern Alpine ridge, main Alpine ridge and Grisons strong to stormy northerly wind

Outlook

Conditions will be sunny and very mild, with mostly light winds. The zero-degree level will be over 3000 m.

Avalanche danger will continue to decrease, especially in the north. There will be an issue with persistent weak layers in southern Valais and from northern Ticino through northern Grisons to Lower Engadine. The avalanche danger in these regions will consequently decrease only very slowly. Moist snow slides may occur on steep sunny slopes and gliding avalanches are possible at intermediate and low altitudes.