Reading tip | SLF Winterflash

The SLF "Winterflash" summarizes key data on snow, weather and avalanches and is a kind of preliminary short version of the annual report published in autumn.

Little snow, lots of storms

As we all know, the winter of 2021/22 was not overly blessed with snow. In Switzerland, the south in particular was extremely dry. In the north, the amount of snow at high altitudes was mostly slightly below average, while at low altitudes it was also very below average. Snowfall in November laid the foundations for a foundation of old snow, which made for very tricky conditions in early winter. At the turn of the year, wet snow avalanches became a seasonally inappropriate topic with rain well above 2000m and very high temperatures. The weak layers in the old snow were also increasingly triggerable again during this phase.

Avalanches in winter 2021/22

The most critical avalanche periods were recorded in December and February, with February seeing by far the most accidents involving people. Danger level 2 was issued on 38% of the days in winter 21/22. Level 1 and 3 were each issued on 30% of days. From October 1, 2021 to April 11, 2022, 145 avalanches with property damage or personal injury were reported, 116 of which were "personal avalanches". There were 12 fatalities. All were in unsecured terrain, 7 on tours and 5 in off-piste terrain. The avalanche and casualty figures are statistically below the long-term average.

Link to Winterflash