Loose Wet
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Likely
- Taille
- 3
This morning, as we've seen over the last week, all mountain weather stations are reporting temperatures well above freezing. It will be a bit cooler today, but the snow surface will soften up, especially in sunny, sheltered terrain. Loose wet avalanches involving saturated snow are likely in very steep, rocky terrain. Dangerous and devious wet slab avalanches are also possible, as meltwater percolates through the snowpack, actively weakening the snow above buried weak layers, pooling on crusts, and increasing the potential for large, natural avalanches.
- Pay attention to terrain traps below you, such as gullies or cliffs, where even a small avalanche can have severe consequences.
- If you're sinking into the snow above your ankles, or you're seeing active roller balls, move to shadier or lower-angle terrain.
- Avoid being on or under steep slopes with saturated surface snow and poor snow structure.
- Although wet avalanches are hard to predict, the video below shows potential for wet slab avalanches to propagate across a slope.