Loose Wet
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Possible
- Size
- 3
There are two concerns for wet snow avalanches:
1. Wet Loose - This will be the most common concern, with the possibility for natural and human-triggered avalanches involving wet snow near the surface. These may be long-running and gouge down into the snow pack. These avalanches are especially dangerous in steep terrain or above terrain traps such as steep-sided gullies where escaping the flow is difficult.
2. Wet Slabs - As meltwater moves deeper into the snowpack, it can pool on buried crusts or weak layers, weakening the structure and allowing avalanches to break deeper and wider. These are larger and more destructive avalanches and may occur naturally, possibly failing down around crusts that formed over the holidays in late December.
Photo taken by UDOT avalanche forecasters showing recent wet slab activity in the Provo mountains.