Loose Wet
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Unlikely
- Size
- 1
Today the snow should warm some and become wet enough to improve the riding a little. It may become wet enough in some places to produce small wet loose avalanches. Areas near rocks and cliffs should heat up the most and will be likely places for wet avalanches.
Looking ahead, the next 4-5 days will have warmer temperatures each day. There should be more wet avalanches happening in coming days as heat is pushed deeper into the snowpack. However, clear skies each night will help the snowpack refreeze. How warm the snow becomes each day and how much it refreezes overnight will determine the scale of wet snow avalanche activity.
In terms of riding conditions, they should improve as the snow goes through the melt-freeze cycle each day to produce large ice grains commonly called corn snow. The key to finding good riding in corn snow and avoiding avalanches is to be riding just as the top inch or two of snow begins to warm and melt. Often you can start on east facing slopes that warm first and move around the compass as the sun warms other slopes. Then head home as the snow gets wetter and slushier.