The jetstream has found its way to the northwest of the Alps and this will bring the first real storms of the season. It has been snowing heavily above 2000-2300 meters since Sunday. About 20-40 cm of fresh snow with local peaks towards the 60 cm already came down. The same amount of fresh snow is expected in the northwest of the Alps until Tuesday evening. Tip: check our snow maps for more details.
The snow that is now falling comes with a strong wind. A lot of fresh wind slabs have already been spotted. The compact wind-drifted and therefore often mechanically bound snow layer falls on a weak old top layer. The snow cover is therefore rather unstable and will remain so for the next 24 hours.
Reason enough for the Swiss avalanche services to publish HIGH (4 on a scale of 5) avalanche danger for parts of the Swiss high alpine.
It has been snowing heavily in the French northern Alps since Sunday as well and the avalanche situation is tense in the high alpine. There is a CONSIDERABLE avalanche risk (3 on a scale of 5) for large parts above 2300 meters.
TIP: Check out the article ‘Avalanche danger rating 3 - More dangerous than you think’
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