Loose Wet
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Possible
- Dimensione
- 1–1.5
Snow levels will rise well above NWAC forecast terrain Tuesday night with freezing levels climbing above 10,000 ft on Wednesday. All snow surfaces should be wet and slushy. You can trigger several inches of snow that fell on Monday to form small wet loose avalanches. In less wind-affected parts of the above treeline terrain, you can probably trigger a D1.5 avalanche. Watch for pinwheels and rollerballs as the warm temperatures combine with increasing solar radiation to destabilize snow surfaces. If you have six inches of slushy, wet snow above the most recent crust, that's enough to produce a natural or human-triggered wet loose avalanche. These can cause you harm primarily in extreme terrain or where they pile snow more deeply in a terrain trap such as a creek or canyon bottom. Cornices may become weak as the temperatures climb. Cornice fall, a hazard in its own right, could trigger small wet loose avalanche on the slopes below.
(1/7/2022)
Small natural wet loose avalanche (D1) along Hwy 35 (NE aspect, 3100ft)
Photo: Andrew Kiefer