Loose Wet
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Very Likely
- Size
- 2
In spring, forecasts only get you so far, and then you have to become a Nowcaster - with direct sun and warming temperatures, be alert to when the snow heats and becomes wet and sloppy. Wet loose sluffs and wet slabs can then be triggered on almost all aspects and elevations, with natural avalanches possible.
Clues will be abundant when the snow heats - you will feel the hot April sun, surface crusts melt, the snow becomes punchy, sticky or damp, pinwheels or swarms of roller balls race downhill, you’re triggering small sluffs or the snow is falling off rocks and trees. The danger for wet sluffs or wet slabs can rise from LOW to CONSIDERABLE in minutes.
With a hard ice crust beneath the new snow, slides will entrain snow and run further than expected. Wet avalanche debris piles up instead of spreading out, and even small slides can deposit 4 feet of cement like debris. Avoid all steep terrain, including being in and below steep chutes and gullies, and small terrain traps at the lower elevations.