Precipitation will set in from the northwest overnight to Thursday. Thursday and Friday will be cloudy in the north, with occasional snowfall. By midday on Friday, 20 to 30 cm of snow is possible on the northern flank of the Alps and in the west of Lower Valais. Winds will veer from westerly to northeasterly. At high altitudes, winds will be light to moderate. There will be sunny intervals in southern Valais and on the southern flank of the Alps.
Avalanche risk will increase somewhat, especially over much of the northern flank of the Alps. There will be little change in other regions. Isolated avalanches may be triggered not only in fresh snowdrift accumulations but also in the old snowpack, especially on northern slopes above 2400 m and in high Alpine regions.
Precipitation set in last Saturday, initially in the south and later also in the north. Before this snowfall, conditions had been generally sunny and dry in the mountains for almost two weeks.
In gullies and bowls on shady slopes above around 2000 m and in high Alpine regions, the fresh and drifted snow fell on a patchy continuous snowpack, otherwise on bare ground. On shady slopes above approximately 2400 m and generally in high Alpine regions, the fresh snow has fallen on pronounced weak layers, where avalanches can still easily be triggered.
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