Loose Wet
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Likely
- Größe
- 1–1.5
On Friday I observed widespread Wet Loose avalanches on all aspects. Overnight low temperatures should be much cooler on Friday night than they were on Thursday night; that will refreeze the snow and delay the onset and minimize the extent of wet instabilities. Nonetheless, with so much wet snow in the upper snowpack, once the surface crust has melted, Wet loose avalanches will be likely on steep sunny slopes.
This morning, the avalanches that I observed were shallow, and very slow moving. I left the terrain by midday and their size only would have increased as the day continued to heat up.
Wet Loose avalanches are usually predictable. Today I saw natural releases from VERY steep terrain before triggering any myself. When traversing short steep slopes it was obvious that the surface snow didn't want to stay put. What is sometimes less obvious, is how forceful even shallow Wet Loose avalanches can be. Be cautious on steep slopes where terrain traps like cliffs, and gullies are present.
Remember that how much sun a slope gets directly relates to how much the snow melts and the likelihood of Wet avalanches. You will find less slushy snow and avalanche hazard earlier in the day and on shadier slopes (North facing)