Human triggered avalanches continue to be a hazard in steep terrain. Snowmobilers or skiers who venture into steep wind loaded avalanche starting zones, large bowls, chutes and steep avalanche prone terrain features could trigger slab avalanches. Very large, deep slab avalanches continue to be a hazard in steep north facing terrain at the upper elevations. Avalanches are unlikely except in isolated terrain features below an elevation of 8,000 feet. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully and identify features of concern.
The chance continues for backcountry travelers to trigger large deep slab avalanches that could involve the full depth of the snowpack. The weak snow associated with this problem is deeply buried near the base of the snowpack on northwest through northeast aspects above 9000 feet.
Surface slabs formed by southwest to west winds during the last storm cycle could be human triggered in steep avalanche terrain features that have not already slide. These slabs could be up to two feet deep.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )A strong temperature inversion will persist thought Wednesday night. Skies will be mostly clear with some clouds moving in from the west later in the day. Winds will back towards the southwest and increase to 25 with gusts to 40 miles per hour by the end of the day.The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE. The potential for humans to trigger surface slabs, the distribution of those slabs and the size of those slabs is slowly decreasing. Deep persistent slabs are still a concern in steep north facing terrain at the upper elevations in the Togwotee Pass and the Greys River areas due to the potential consequences of human involvement with one of these large destructive slabs.
