Monte Rosa

Snowpack

With fresh snow and sometimes stormy winds from the west, snowdrift accumulations have formed over the last few days, with these being large particularly in the west and north. Fresh snow and snowdrifts are lying on an faceted old snow surface and in some cases are still likely to be triggered as avalanche by persons. On Thursday, as the snowfall intensifies and the southwesterly wind increases over the course of the day, further snowdrift accumulations will occur, once again mainly in the west and north.

Before the snowfalls this week, an extensive, continous snowpack was present mainly on north-facing slopes above 2800 m and generally in the high Alpine regions. At low and medium altitudes, the fresh snow fell on bare ground. At high altitudes, there was little snow in particular on shady slopes, with terrain roughness mostly not yet leveled out.

Weather forecast to Thursday, 21.11.2024

The night to Thursday will be cloudy with clear intervals in the north, with some snowfall occasionally in low-lying areas. In the south, the night will be mostly clear. During the day, it will be mostly cloudy, with precipitation setting in from the west. In the afternoon, precipitation will be widespread and the snow line will rise to 1500 to 2000 m in the west.

Fresh snow

from Wednesday evening to Thursday afternoon, above around 2000 m:

• Valais, northern Alpine ridge from Les Diablerets to the Glarus Alps: 10 to 20 cm, locally up to 30 cm on the border with France
• elsewhere, a widespread 5 to 10 cm, less in the far south

Temperature

At noon at 2000 m, between -4 °C in the west and -9 °C in the east and south

Wind

• moderate during the night to Thursday, sometimes a strong northwesterly wind at altitude
• turning round to the southwest during the day and strong to stormy in the afternoon

Weather Review for Wednesday, 20.11.2024

During the night to Wednesday, there was some heavy precipitation in the west and north. The snowline dropped from 1800 m to around 600 m. Over the course of the day, it was cloudy to very cloudy with snow showers and some sunny intervals. In the south it was mostly sunny.

Fresh snow

Between the onset of precipitation on Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon, the following amounts of fresh snow fell above approximately 2200 m:

• westernmost Lower Valais, northern Valais: 40 to 60 cm, with up to 70 cm on the border with France;
• remaining northern Alpine ridge and remaining Valais: 15 to 30 cm, and locally up to 40 cm;
• otherwise a widespread 5 to 15 cm, dry in the far south

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between -8 °C in the north and -6 °C in the south.

Wind

Westerly to northerly:

• strong to stormy westerly wind during the night to Wednesday
• decreasing during the day and mostly a moderate northwesterly wind in the north, moderate to strong north wind in the south

Outlook

On Friday, snow is expected to fall widely down to low-lying areas. In the west and north, 20 to 40 cm of snow is possible. It will be very cold. In the south it will be mostly sunny. The strong southwesterly wind will die down at night, with a moderate to strong northwesterly wind during the day. Little snow is expected to fall in low-lying areas on the night to Saturday. During the day, it will be partly sunny in the north, mostly sunny in the south. It will become appreciably milder.

The avalanche risk will increase on Friday in the main precipitation areas, elsewhere there will be no significant change. It will reduce on Saturday. With the sun, wet slides are to be expected on steep southern slopes over the course of the day.