Loose wet avalanche on Castle Peak

Seems like just the right set of conditions came together in this spot for a natural loose wet avalanche today. Residual free water in the upper snowpack from yesterday's rain on snow, cloud cover last night, above freezing air temperatures today, and increased snow surface warming from IR absorption along the cliff band. Numerous roller balls were noted in this location at 10:30 am. We saw the avalanche track and debris when this slope came back into view around 1:30 pm.

Wet surface snow was noted today on all aspects below 8,000'. Ski cuts on test slopes did not produce any amount of problematic loose wet instability during the afternoon hours.