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Avalanche danger forecast for
Wednesday 1/16/2019


 

AVALANCHE DANGER   dangerous situation on the north boundary of the region
little snow in the southeast
Wednesday 1/16/2019
  

2200 m

   

The avalanche problems are the wind-drifted snow.
The avalanche danger is 3-considerable at the north-west and north
. The danger is high in the border areas, but it rapidly falls away towards the south-east.
In off-piste and hiking activities you have a prudent choice of route. The wind loads are clearly visible: often they have filled basins and canyons, but they are also present on open slopes. They are not always avoidable because often in the nearby areas the wind has eroded the snow to the ground. The stability tests show that already the passage of a single skier is possible to trigger superficial slabs, even large ones, of recent wind driftned snow: 50-100 cm in the northern border; 40-60 cm a little more distant.
Natural avalanches with weak cohesion and slabs are possible. Pay attention especially to the habitual gullies, because avalanches can release at high altitude and reach the valley floor, even with aerosol, reaching large dimensions.

Below 2200 m from very steep and sunny slopes, sluffs and slab avalanches are possible, generally small.

The avalanche danger is 2-moderate in the south and east of the region, 1-weak in the south-east.
The wind loads are much smaller in terms of thickness and number; it is easier to get around them and any slab avalanches are smaller.
Spontaneous avalanche activity limited to sluffs or small superficial slabs.
Especially where it has snowed little or nothing remain the danger of slipping or falling on hard and smooth crusts.


AVALANCHE DANGER TREND  Thursday 17:    Friday 18:  

steady


GENERAL CONDITION
updated to 1/15/2019
 

Fresh snow on Sunday and Monday
Difficult to reported right quantities of fresh snow because the snow has been drifted by very strong north-western winds. Greater quantities of snow along the northern border ridges between Mont Blanc and Matterhorn: 60-80 cm at 2000 m. Moving to the south-east the quantities drop from 20-30 up to a few cm.

Snowpack
The problem is superficial and linked to new wind loads that can slip on the old and hard snowpack or, in some cases, on a layer of faceted crystals.There is also a possible instability between two layers of fresh snow (instability not visible but found by the stability tests).

Snowcover
Snow is absent in the valley bottom and little in the middle mountain. Good snowfall only above 2200-2400 m, but the snowpack is not homogeneous because it is strongly driftned by wind with eroded areas even up to the ground.

Natural avalanches in the last 24 hours
Many sluffs and slab avalanches of medium sizem aminly at est aspects, but in number and size smaller than expected.

Skiing conditions: bad to good, frequently variable in few meters.
It is possible to wear the skis above 1800-2300 m, better to choose skitours with roads that lead at higher altitude.
In the northwest, over these levels, you ski on a layer of new cold snow beautifull to skiing. Where it has not snowed you can ski on crusts of various kinds both by wind and by refreezing, hard and irregular.
Useful crampons or rampant for the hardest areas.

Weather forecast

SNOW AND WEATHER CONDITIONS OF THE 7 LAST DAYS  
Monte Bianco Gran San Bernardo Gran Paradiso Monte Rosa

EUROPEAN AVALANCHE DANGER SCALE Rising avalanche danger during the day
 
5
VERY HIGH
 
4
HIGH
 
3
CONSIDERABLE
 
2
MODERATE
 
1
LOW

TYPICAL AVALANCHE PROBLEMS   CRITICAL LOCATIONS
NEW SNOW
WIND-DRIFTED SNOW
PERSISTENT WEAK
LAYERS
WET SNOW
GLIDING SNOW
IN BLACK: THE MORE CRITICAL ASPECTS AND ELEVATIONS
Snow and avalanche bulletin n° 49 issued on 1/15/2019 at 00:00 p.m.
Valid outside the ski runs controlled and managed by the ski resorts.
For an accurate interpretation of the Bulletin, go here