Nearly two feet of new snow with up to two inches of moisture has fallen during the past several days. Soft surface slabs and deep dangerous hard slabs could be triggered by humans on steep slopes. On Thursday a dangerous deep slab was triggered by skiers near the Pinnacles. The additional load of the recent snowfall has increased the likelihood for humans to trigger similar events. Safe travel procedures and conservative terrain choices are essential today.
Soft surface slabs up to 30 inches in depth could be easily triggered by humans who venture onto avalanche prone slopes. These slabs could step down and trigger dangerous persistent deep slabs in areas with poor snowpack structure.
Very large hard slabs with depths to five feet could be triggered on steep slopes where persistent layers weak faceted exist within the snowpack. These dangerous slabs could be triggered on slopes that have been crossed multiple time by other riders or skiers.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )A west-southwest flow aloft will continue to feed moisture into the region. Periods of light to moderate snowfall that can be locally heavy at times at the upper elevations. This snowfall will be off and on through the week with no real extended breaks, however accumulations are likely to be significantly less than we have been experiencing lately.Skies are forecast to be cloudy with new snow accumulations of three to five inches likely tonight and again on Sunday in the mountains. Temperatures will be in the teens and 20s in the mountains and in the 20s and 30s in the valleys where some rain is possible during the afternoon hours. Winds will be west to southwest at 25 with gusts to 35 to 40 miles per hour at the summit level. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be CONSIDERABLE in the mountains. Soft surface slabs one to three feet in depth could be easily triggered by humans who venture onto steep avalanche prone slopes. In the Togwotee Pass/Continental Divide and the Southwest Trails/ Greys River areas deep persistent slabs with depths to five feet could also be triggered by skier, snowboarders or snowmobilers. Triggering one of these large dangerous slab avalanches could be fatal.
