Blüemlisalp

The fresh snow of the last few days and the wind slabs to be found adjacent to riddgelines are in some cases still prone to triggering. Winter sport participants can release avalanches in some places. Mostly these are small. At elevated altitudes the avalanche prone locations will become more prevalent. Fresh wind slabs are to be evaluated with care and prudence in steep terrain. 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 surface of the snowpack will cool hardly at all during the overcast night. Individual wet avalanches are possible. This applies especially on very steep north facing slopes between approximately 2000 and 2800 m. The Avalanche Warning Service currently has only a small amount of information that has been collected in the field, so that the avalanche danger should be investigated especially thoroughly in the relevant locality.

In areas below approximately 2200 m the precipitation of the last few days fell predominantly as rainfall, in zones above 2800 m predominantly as snowfall. There, the various layers of fresh fallen snow and newly generated snowdrift accumulations are deposited atop one another. These layers constitute the main danger for dry-snow avalanches. During the night of generally overcast skies, the snowpack below 2500 m was hardly able to freeze. On south-facing slopes, the snowpack is thoroughly wet far up into high alpine regions; on west-facing and east-facing slopes it is wet below approximately 3000 m; and on north-facing slopes below approximately 2600 m. In spite of the gray skies and gloomy weather, the process of the snowpack becoming thoroughly wet on north-facing slopes is progressing apace at high altitudes, although only very slowly.

Nocturnal skies were overcast. From region to region there was a small amount of precipitation. The snowfall level lay at approximately 2000 m. During the daytime hours skies were heavily overcast, but it remained dry for the most part. Fresh snow: Between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow were registered above approximately 2600 m:

• Temperature: At midday at 2000 m, +5 °C. Wind: Winds will be blowing intermittently at moderate strength at high altitudes from easterly to northeasterly directions.

Nocturnal skies will be only partially clear. Thus, the snowpack surface in altitude belts above 2500 m is hardly able to freeze. During the daytime hours on Sunday in eastern regions, skies will frequently be overcast, in the western regions it is expected to be quite sunny. On Monday, it will be sunny in all regions of Switzerland. The zero-degree level will ascend to 3000 m by Monday. The danger of dry-snow avalanches is expected to diminish. The danger of wet-snow avalanches will increase during the course of each day. Backcountry tours and ascents to mountain refuges should be brought to an end early in the day.