Bex-Villars

Snowpack

Last Tuesday, 10 to (in some places) 20 cm of snow fell on the northern flank of the Alps from the Bernese Oberland to Liechtenstein, in Valais and in the Gotthard region. On Thursday and Monday, a few more centimetres of snow fell in the east. The snowfall level was between 1000 and 1500 m.

On Tuesday afternoon of this week, with new fallen snow and increasingly stormy westerly winds, snowdrift accumulations prone to triggering will occur mainly in the west.

On shady slopes at high altitudes, there is a thin snowpack which does not compensate for the unevenness of the terrain. A continuous, sometimes layered snowpack is primarily found on northern slopes above 2800 m and generally in high alpine regions. There, the surface of the snowpack, especially on shady slopes, is partly faceted and loose.

Trend

During the night to Wednesday, it will snow heavily in the west and the north. Some snow will fall during the day. It will be quite sunny in the south. By Wednesday evening, 30 to 50 cm of snow is expected above around 2000 m on the northern flank of the Alps and in Lower Valais, up to 70 cm in the far west. The snowfall level will drop from 1800 m to lower areas during the night to Wednesday.

The weather forecast for Thursday is still uncertain. It will often be cloudy. Particularly in the afternoon, snow will fall down to low altitudes, with a focus in the west.

The avalanche danger will significantly increase during the night to Wednesday. Particularly on northern and eastern slopes in the high alpine regions, naturally triggered avalanches are expected, including large ones. Even at high altitudes, fresh snowdrift accumulations can easily be triggered as avalanches. On Thursday, the avalanche situation at high altitudes remains critical.

Tours at high altitudes and in the high alpine regions require experience in assessing the avalanche danger.