The sixteenth edition of the report describes the course of the snow season 2020/2021, which, characterised by little snow, a lot of wind, positive and negative temperature anomalies and a very snowy and cold finish, will absolutely be remembered for the presence of widespread and powerful persistent weak layers that gave rise to spectacular cloud avalanches.

The most critical period of the season came between the end of January and the beginning of February, with a truly complex forecasting situation and many unexpected cloud avalanches, even on the roads, especially in the areas with the greatest scarcity of snow. The 4-strong avalanche danger level was maintained in some areas for as many as 7 consecutive days, and the local avalanche commissions were busy, almost day and night, monitoring snow and weather conditions and controlling the road network.

In spite of the overall low snowfall during the winter and a general drop in the number of avalanches, 293 spontaneous avalanches were recorded, including 171 on 28 and 29 January alone, while 11 avalanche accidents were recorded in the Aosta Valley. In general, ski mountaineers, as well as avalanche forecasters and local avalanche commissions, had to deal with conditions that were complicated to assess due to the presence of thick and persistent weak layers that were not visible from the outside and were therefore dangerous and difficult to understand and avoid.