Soft surface slabs lie upon old snow surfaces formed during the most recent drought period. These slabs could be human triggered on steep avalanche prone slopes and have the potential to step down to deeper layers of weak faceted snow, especially at the mid elevations. Evaluate the snow and terrain carefully and avoid areas of concern.
Slab avalanches up to three feet in depth could be human triggered on old snow surfaces formed during the recent dry period and deeper buried layers of faceted snow.
Areas of light to moderate snowfall will continue to slowly spread south and east overnight. This steady snowfall will end on Tuesday morning, however periods of light snowfall and flurries will continue into Wednesday. Another four to eight inches of light density is likely to accumulate in most mountain locations during the next 24 hours. On Tuesday temperatures will remain mostly in the single digits. Winds will veer from the southwest to the northwest and are forecast to be light at five to ten miles per hour.Areas that have received the most new snow are likely to experience shallow loose snow sluffs from cliff areas. In the big peaks these loose snow sluffs could entrain significant volumes of loose snow in terrain with long sustained steep pitches. Some very soft, new surface slab formation is possible in areas exposed to any significant wind. This new snow will add a load to existing persistent slabs and increase their sensitivity to human triggers. These persistent slabs could be human triggered to depths of one to three feet on the late January drought snow surfaces and in areas with a poor snowpack structure these slabs could fail to depths of three to five feet on buried layers of weak faceted snow. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE in the Teton area and CONSIDERABLE in the Togwotee Pass/Continental Divide and the Southwest Trails/Greys River areas.
