The recent storm brought significant snowfall to the area with over twenty inches of snow falling in some locations in just over 24 hours. The rapid loading yesterday resulted in one natural slide putting five to six feet of debris on the trail just a few miles up the Greys River Rd. from Alpine. Today, backcountry travelers could easily trigger recently formed wind slabs and initiate loose sloughs in steep terrain on a variety of aspects and elevations. Consider terrain and the ramifications of these events entraining large amounts of snow as they descend steep avalanche slopes. At high elevations, the possibility continues to trigger very large avalanches involving deeply buried weaknesses on certain aspects. Conservative decision making is essential today in managing these concerns.
Winds that veered from the southwest to northwest during the snowfall have continued to veer to the northeast overnight. Soft slabs can be found on wind loaded slopes on all aspects and elevations. Although not expected to be quite as sensitive as yesterday, these slabs will be very sensitive to skiers and snowmobilers alike and could have depths to thirty inches.
Persistent deep slabs with depths to six feet could be human triggered in steep avalanche prone terrain that faces north above an elevation of 9,000 feet. Recent rapid loading has increased the potential for these deep slabs to be human triggered. If triggered, surviving one of these events is unlikely.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )As the storm track is pushed further south, snow will end overnight. By morning skies will be mostly clear to clear and temperatures will drop further as the cold front takes over. Morning temperatures are to be near minus twenty Fahrenheit in the valleys and minus ten at higher elevations. As daily warming occurs, highs near ten are expected at all elevations. Winds will vary from the north to east with ten to fifteen mile per hour averages during the day. The avalanche hazard will be Considerable in the Southwest Trails/Greys River area. In the Teton and Togwotee Pass areas it will be Moderate above 9000 feet and Low below that elevation. Soft wind slabs will exist in all areas but be most sensitive and larger in the southern zone with depths that could exceed two feet. Very large avalanches involving the deep persistent weak layer near the base of the snowpack on high northerly aspects could still be human triggered in all areas. The chance of doing so is more likely in the generally weaker snowpack on Togwotee Pass area and in Southwest Trails area where slopes have just been rapidly loaded. An event involving this layer is unlikely in Tetons but could still occur in isolated areas.
