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A lot of fresh snow is expected in Ticino and neighboring areas this Friday and over the weekend. What do we have to be prepared for, says SRF meteorologist Christoph Siegrist.
Christoph Siegrist
Deputy Editor Director SRF Meteo
SRF News: A lot of fresh snow is expected in southern Switzerland. What does this mean exactly?
Christoph Siegrist: By Sunday, 1 to 1.5 meters of fresh snow will fall in northern Ticino and parts of southern Grisons. In central and southern Ticino it is up to one meter. The heaviest snowfalls are expected from Friday to Saturday. Sunday can be mostly dry again in Ticino.
And the rest of the country?
The south wind also pushes snow clouds over the Alps towards the canton of Uri, towards Mittelbünden, where half a meter of snow also falls. In the lowlands it remains green, the snow line in the north is between 400 and 700 meters.
Where does it stay white beyond the weekend?
No thermal break is in sight, so the snow remains in the mountains. The snow is gradually melting in southern Ticino.
At the moment, the question for many is whether one should go skiing or not, could one even?
No, today it is not possible to ski, due to the foehn storm many ski lifts are closed. Tomorrow the foehn storm is over, so it would work. But you should not go off track because of the danger of avalanches.
So is that danger?
Yes, the Davos Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research assumes that avalanche danger will rise to level 4 (out of 5), which means that avalanches can resolve themselves without additional stress.
Where can there be obstacles to traffic?
Especially in Ticino it gets difficult with the snow.
We don’t want to ask the white Christmas question yet, do we?
Unfortunately, we can’t say much about that at this point. Except typically only 40 percent of Christmas in the lowlands is white, in the west only 25 percent.
Interview by Alexandros Koulouris
