Tetons

Backcountry travelers have the potential to trigger wind slabs that formed during this past weekend's storm. At the upper elevations watch for terrain features where recent loading has occurred. Pockets of instability are most likely to be found in steep avalanche starting zones near ridge crests, near cliff areas, and in steep couloirs. Yesterday two such slides were skier triggered on Northerly aspects. At the mid and low elevations, avalanches are less likely but could be found in isolated areas. Remember that even small avalanches can seriously injure people or bury them in terrain traps.

The weather will be dry with a building temperature inversion. At the upper elevations temperatures will drop to around zero overnight and rise into the low 20’s during the day. In the coldest valley locations temperatures will into the negative teens overnight and rise into the 20’s during the day. Winds will stay light at 5 to 15 miles per hour and back from the northwest to the southwest.At the higher elevations wind slabs can still be triggered by skiers and snowmobilers in steep avalanche prone terrain. These slabs are generally expected to be one to three feet deep. However today a skier triggered a four, foot deep slide on faceted snow in a slide path on Beaver mountain that had previously slide. Slab avalanches could be human triggered on isolated terrain features at the lower elevations. Sunshine and warmer temperatures are likely to increase the sensitivity of these slabs to human triggers. Monitor conditions for increasing hazard on steep sunlit aspects during the warmest portion of the day. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be moderate at the higher elevations. The hazard is expected to be low below an elevation of 9,000 feet in the Teton area, 8,500 feet in the Greys River area and 8,000 feet in the Togwotee Pass area.