Loose Wet
- Alpin
- Limite forestière
- Sous la limite forestière
- Probabilité
- Very Likely
- Taille
- 2
Winds and clouds won the battle yesterday, keeping the snow mostly cool, and I’m hoping the same combination will minimize the wet avalanche activity again today. Fighting on the other side are the warm temperatures, many mid and lower elevations stations have been above freezing for 48 hours, and the snowpack at these elevations will struggle with heating today. Below is a 7 day temperature graph from the Ben Lomond Snotel, 7,688'. ° F on the left axis, red line is 32° F
Wet loose sluffs are the simpler problem - when the surface snow gets damp, head to lower angle slopes and avoid travel in and below run out zones. Be especially alert for the snow to rapidly heat if the sun comes out, the clouds thin or the wind stops blowing where you are.
Wet Slabs are the tricky problem - this is when deeper layers of snow have remained wet, hiding beneath shallowly frozen crusts. Signs to watch for - collapsing, punchy or bending crusts, or when you are breaking through the crusts. A wet slab can break loose when you think you’re on a supportable frozen snow. Stopping to dig down just a foot or two can let you search for layers of weak, wet snow in the upper snowpack. Photo below is of the layering to be looking for.