Gstaad

Snowpack

After two weeks without any significant precipitation, at the beginning of this week a continuous snowpack existed particularly on shady slopes above approximately 2800 m and in general in glaciated high Alpine regions. The fresh snow from the last few days has been deposited on steep shady slopes, in places on a crusted snowpack surface but in others on a faceted surface. With southwesterly winds, snow drift accumulations have developed, especially in the west and in high Alpine regions.

Thursday’s storm-force westerly wind will mostly cause drifted snow to accumulate away from ridgelines. In addition, with rain fall up to around 2800 m moist snow slides are to be expected.

Weather forecast to Thursday

Conditions will be mostly cloudy with widespread precipitation. The snowfall level will rise to between 2600 and 2800 m during the night to Thursday. As the day progresses, it will drop from the north to 1600 to 2000 m.

Fresh snow

From Wednesday to Thursday afternoon, the following amounts will fall above approximately 3000 m:

• extreme west of Lower Valais: 50 cm, at the border with France locally up to 80 cm
• northern Alpine ridge from Les Diablerets to the Jungfrau region, the rest of Lower Valais and the main Alpine ridge from the Lukmanier Pass to the Bernina Pass: 30 to 50 cm
• southern Upper Valais: 15 to 30 cm, elsewhere 5 to 15 cm

Temperature

Falling, between +2 °C in the west and +5 °C in the east at midday at 2000 m

Wind

Strong to storm-force in the north and in general in the high Alpine regions, elsewhere moderate to strong from westerly directions

Weather review for Wednesday

In Valais and the north, conditions were mostly cloudy with occasional precipitation. The snowfall level was between 2000 and 2400 m. Ticino and Grisons saw some sunshine.

Fresh snow

From Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, the following amounts fell above approximately 2800 m:

• western Lower Valais, northern Alpine ridge from the Dents du Midi to the Jungfrau region 10 to 20 cm, at the border with France locally 30 cm
• elsewhere a few centimetres, dry in Ticino and Grisons

In total, the following amount fell above around approximately 2800 m between Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon:

• western Lower Valais, northern Alpine ridge from Les Diablerets to the Jungfrau region 15 to 30 cm, at the border with France 40 cm
• rest of Valais, northern Alpine ridge from the Jungfrau region to Tödi, Goms, Val Bedretto, and from Val Bregaglia to the Bernina region: 5 to 10 cm
• elsewhere a few centimetres or dry

Temperature

Rising, reaching around +5 °C at midday at 2000 m

Wind

Moderate to strong in the north, otherwise weak to moderate southwesterly

Outlook

In the north, conditions will be mostly cloudy on Friday and Saturday and snow will fall above 1000 to 1400 m. In the afternoon, precipitation will ease somewhat and there will be some bright intervals. In the south, it will be mostly sunny on both days. The wind will still be strong to storm-force overnight to Friday, otherwise mostly strong westerly to northwesterly at high altitudes.

A total of 30 to 50 cm of snow is expected to fall in Valais and on the northern flank of the Alps, 15 to 30 cm in northern Grisons as well as in the Silvretta and Samnaun, and less elsewhere.

In the north and in Valais, the danger of dry avalanches will continue to increase, even at high altitudes. The situation is wintry. Above approximately 2800 m, touring conditions are critical. Experience in assessing avalanche danger is necessary, as is restraint. In other regions, the avalanche danger will barely change.

The danger of wet snow slides will decrease as temperatures fall. However, gliding avalanches are increasingly to be expected in areas with new snow.