Tetons

The hazard will be on the increase today as strong south to southwest winds form isolated pockets of new soft slab 8 to 16 inches in depth. Humans who venture into steep avalanche starting zones with fresh deposits of wind drifted snow could trigger these pockets of shallow surface slab. At the lower elevations the snowpack is limited to areas of shallow patchy snow.

The snowfall will continue over the mountains until day break with additional accumulations of three to six inches in the western and northern portions of our forecast area. On Saturday skies will clear with some lingering mountain snow showers during the morning hours. Strong west winds at 25 to 30 with gusts to 45 will continue overnight and diminish to 15 miles per hour and back to the southwest during the day. Temperatures will drop to near ten degrees by morning and rise into the 30s during the day.New soft slabs created by west winds up to 18 inches deep at the upper elevations of the Teton Range and up to a foot deep in other areas will lie upon slick crusts and could be human triggered. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE at the upper elevations of the Teton Range and LOW in other areas.