Rothenthurm

Snowpack

Last week's fresh and drifted snow is lying on top of a faceted weak old snowpack in many places at high altitude:

• north of a line between the Rhone and Rhine, the overlying snow is often thick. human-triggered avalanches are therefore only possible in isolated cases, especially at transitions from a deep to shallow snowpack and in places with little snow; these avalanches may, however, be large.
• avalanches are still a distinct possibility in weak layers near the ground, especially in southern Valais and in a strip from northern Ticino via central and northern Grisons to the Lower Engadine, where medium and often large avalanches have been repeatedly triggered in recent days.
• south of this, along the Main Alpine Ridge in Grisons, in the Upper Engadine and in central Ticino, there is still little snow. Older snowdrift accumulations are lying on a thin, but usually completely faceted and loose snowpack and avalanches can still be triggered here.

Weather forecast to Sunday

It will be sunny and mild in the mountains.

Fresh snow

-

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, +5 °C.

Wind

Mostly light.

Weather review for Saturday

It was sunny and mild in the mountains.

Fresh snow

-

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, around +6 °C.

Wind

Mostly light.

Outlook

It will be sunny and mild in the mountains on Monday and Tuesday. The zero-degree level will be around 2700 m. Winds will be mostly light and in the north will rise to moderate from the southwest on Tuesday.

The danger of dry avalanches will decrease only gradually. Particularly in southern Valais and in Grisons, avalanches can still be triggered in the weak old snowpack and become large. Small and medium-sized gliding avalanches are still possible on steep sunny slopes.