Monday’s winter storm brought precipitation over a wide area and transported large quantities of fresh and old snow. In some
cases the snow has been transported almost entirely from ridges and mountain crests. In locations situated some distance from
ridgelines, large snow drift accumulations have formed in some regions. The fresh snow and snow drift accumulations are becoming
more stable as a consequence of exposure to solar radiation, but only slowly on shady slopes. Distinct weak layers exist deeper
in the snowpack in particular on west, north and east facing slopes. On the northern flank of the Alps these are mostly covered
by thick layers of snow and therefore less prone to triggering. From southern Valais through northern Ticino to Grisons, in
many places all the old snow near the ground is faceted. In these regions several large avalanches, and in isolated cases
very large avalanches, have been triggered by people in recent days. Further releases of this kind remain possible.