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.

N74310111
SNOW AND AVALANCHE BULLETIN FOR HAUTE SAVOIE
(VALID OFF OF OPEN AND MARKED RUNS)
PREPARED ON THURSDAY 31 JANUARY
FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1
ESTIMATE OF RISK UNTIL FRIDAY EVENING:
For all the massive Haute Savoie: limited risk (level 2)

WEATHER OVERVIEW UNTIL FRIDAY EVENING:
After a partly clear night, the sky will be cloudy on Friday, with snowfall weak and scattered over 1000 and 1500 meters, snow will increase in the late afternoon. The wind was blowing hard on the peaks. We expect 5/7 cm of snow blown by Friday evening.

Isothermal 0 1800 m. Isothermal -10 DG: 3500 m.
Wind at 2000 m: Southwest 60/70 km / h. Wind at 4000 m: West 80 km / h.

SNOW CONDITIONS:
Correct but no more and always low at low altitude.
Thickness of snow at 1500 m: just white South, 70 cm in the north.
It is fitting the skis toward 1000/1200 m in the shade, 1300/1600 m in the South.

Quality of snow for Friday:
At low altitude, below 1500 m, the snow will humidify itself with little rainfall.
On average mountains above 1500 m, the small layer of snow, powdery or blown, deposit on a sub-layer re-frozen lasts or crust except in the shaded slopes and sheltered from the bise where the sub layer will consist of an old powder, a little sugar style. In the high mountains, there is often a compacted snow and blown by the wind.

STABILITY OF SNOW COVER: Formation of a few small surface slabs

The low snowfall expected Friday will not greatly alter the avalanche risk. Some small surface slabs could be formed throughout the day with the wind. Thus, over 1800 m, a single skier could trigger a small surface slab very little thicker, rather in the afternoon. This risk remains generally well-located towards the peaks, or a break in slope. But in the shaded slopes where they usually skied the last few days on a snow type powdered sugar, these small patches of surface could be a little more numerous.

As for the risk of natural avalanches, it will be low for Friday, possibly some small cast of snow wet from the rain in a very steep slopes below 1500 m, and this rather in the afternoon.

TREND LATER RISK:
It will be a marked increase Saturday with a significant risk of triggering a slab avalanche with the passage of a skier. The risk is expected to remain fairly marked Sunday.

Meteo-France updates this newsletter everyday at 16h or sooner if conditions warrant.