Loose Wet
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Likely
- Dimensione
- 2
With a combination of thin clouds and very warm temperatures, shallow wet loose sluffs and slabs of new snow will again be easy to trigger on steep slopes of all almost aspects and elevation. These will average 4 to 8” deep, and run further and faster than expected on the slick ice crusts beneath. Entraining snow as they move downhill, even a shallow slide can stack up deep debris in terrain traps or against trees.
Look for clues - as soon as the crusts soften and the snow becomes damp, wet or soggy where you are or you can trigger small wet sluffs, it’s a sign of unstable wet snow. It’s time to move to low angle slopes and avoid terrain traps such as gullies and drainages. At the mid to lower elevation, also be alert if snow snow is punchy, and you can break deeply into it, especially in shallow or rocky spots, and again avoid steep slopes. Snow conditions can change quickly with aspect and elevation.
Greg Gagne: a 17 second video of 4 feet of debris from a 6 inch deep slide. Check out the whole observation here.