Avalanche bulletin and weather forecast Haute Savoie

This avalanche translation of the Meteo France avalanche bulletin is produced mainly through an automated translation tool.  Please use it in conjunction with the French bulletin found at the above link.

N74220111
SNOW AND AVALANCHE BULLETIN FOR HAUTE SAVOIE
(VALID OUT OF OPEN AND MARKED RUNS )
PREPARED ON TUESDAY 22 JANUARY
FOR WEDNESDAY 23 JANUARY
ESTIMATE OF RISK UNTIL WEDNESDAY EVENING:
Massif du Mont Blanc:
-- More high as 2200 m: marked risk (level 3).
-- More low as about 2200 m: limited risk (level 2).
Chablais and Aravis: limited risk (level 2).

OVERVIEW WEATHER UNTIL WEDNESDAY EVENING:
Good weather cloudy with a few passages from the middle of the day.

Isothermal 0 1500 2500 m.
Wind at 2000 m: North-east, 40 then 30 km / h.
Wind at 4000 m: North, 90 and 60 km / h.

SNOW CONDITIONS:
The snow is correct for the end of January except at low altitudes below 1300 m, where it is quite low. Towards 1500 m, there are about 80 cm of snow in northern slopes, 40 cm in the South. It is fitting the skis to 1000 m in the shade, 1300/1400 m in the South.

Quality of snow on Wednesday: The snow is usually a powdery wind-packed except in the high mountains or near the mid-mountain ridges, where it has been largely swept or cured by the wind. The powdery snow will be light gauge to-1500 m. Attention anyway, powdery snow blink evil snow crust underlying evil in the sunny mid-mountain.

STABILITY OF SNOW COVER: slabs, bigger in Chamonix valley.
This Tuesday morning, it snowed above 1500 m with a lot of wind direction generally west to northwest. A 2000 m, it fell about 15 cm on the Aravis, 15 to 20 cm on the Chablais, 20 to 30 cm in Chamonix valley. These snowfalls were deposited on a snowpack generally well stabilized. But in some shaded slopes above 2200 meters, the snow is based on a low snow cohesion.

Wednesday, the main risk is triggering a slab avalanche with the passage of a single skier. These slabs will be located primarily in some areas of accumulation of snow by the wind, so especially in the vicinity of broken slopes above 1800 meters. In the shaded slopes greater than about 2200, that risk will be a little more widespread and not always located near broken slopes. In Chamonix valley, in view of the large quantity of snow, the slabs will be larger.

On the other hand, a few of wet snow avalanches, mostly small, are likely to hours "hot" in the hills south oriented to the west.

TREND LATER RISK:
Thursday, the risk will be down slightly, except in the far slopes exposed to the sun.
Meteo-France updates this newsletter everyday at 16h or sooner if conditions warrant.