Loose Wet
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Possible
- Size
- 1–2
Below-freezing overnight temperatures and cloud cover this morning will keep wet snow issues at bay during the first part of the day. As skies clear, crusts that formed at the snow surface will quickly melt, bringing wet snow problems back to the table. There are two broad categories of wet snow problems to watch out for today:
- Near-surface wet snow: Snowfall from over the weekend is sitting on icy crusts that formed during earlier warm-ups. As this snow melts this afternoon you may be able to trigger a wet loose avalanche as the new snow peels off the crust below. These slides will start at a point and fan out and pick up additional snow as they travel downslope.
- Full-depth wet snow: At lower elevations, where temperatures are warmer, wet snow avalanches involving the entirety of the snowpack may be possible on very steep slopes by this afternoon. A rider in the Soldier Mountains yesterday reported that the snowpack at lower elevations had reached this state yesterday, and a snowshoer in the mountains above the Wood River Valley experienced a large collapse in a thin, wet snowpack on a shaded low elevation slope. Slides involving a snowpack that is weak, wet, and mushy will gouge down to the ground, producing an ugly, wet avalanche.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSIONYesterday, a skier was caught and carried in a wind slab avalanche in the Soldier Mountains to the west of this zone (photos and preliminary information here). The avalanche broke a reported 1-2' deep in a recently wind-loaded area. Similar slabs exist in the upper elevation terrain in this zone. Field observations have indicated these slabs are well bonded to the surfaces they were deposited on, but yesterday's avalanche clearly indicates that this isn't the case everywhere. Be on the lookout for wind slabs today and be alert to the consequences of being caught in even a small slide.