The immense amounts of fresh fallen snow which have been deposited in the western and the northern regions since Wednesday
were transported by strong to storm-velocity westerly winds, then by northerly winds on Saturday. Wide-ranging snowdrift accumulations
were generated, including distant from ridgelines. At high altitudes the fresh snow and freshly generated snowdrifts tend
to increase significantly with ascending altitude. Particularly on north-facing slopes, the fresh snow and snowdrifts were
deposited atop a loosely-packed old snowpack surface in some places. The old snowpack surface in other aspects was more favourable.
Beneath the cold fresh snow which fell on Saturday there is moist snow (below approximately 2000 m, due to rainfall, wet snow)
as far up as 2500 m.
In the inneralpine regions of Grisons and also in parts of the Valais, the snowpack structuring on north-facing slopes continues
to be weak. Fractures reaching down to more deeply embedded layers are possible.