Salt River and Wyoming Ranges

The general avalanche hazard is MODERATE. New snowfall of 8 to 12 inches ending Monday evening and southwest to westerly winds have created easily triggered soft slabs to 18 inches in depth on lee slopes above 8000 feet. Within the snowpack buried, weak layers of surface hoar and depth hoar hold the potential for riders and skiers to trigger deeper hard slabs to three feet in depth on very steep slopes. Sunshine will rapidly warm and weaken the snowpack making slides easier to trigger. Avoid steep, sunlit slopes in the afternoon.

( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )A cold front will move over the region Monday night with light snow expected. The snowfall will taper off by Tuesday morning as high pressure ridging builds into the area. Skies will be partly cloudy Tuesday with morning lows in the single digits and daytime highs reaching the low 20s. Winds along the ride tops will be southwesterly at 20 miles per hour.The general avalanche hazard is expected to be Considerable. The light density storm snow will be easily drifted onto lee slopes increasing the size and sensitivity of slabs. Backcountry travelers in the Tetons can expect to find easily triggered soft slabs and sloughs to two feet in depth on steep slopes of all aspects. Any periods of sunshine will increase the sensitivity of slides. Sloughs that occur naturally may rapidly entrain dangerous volumes of snow. At lower elevations continued cool temperatures should result in a mostly stable snowpack. In the southwest Trails and Continental Divide areas deeper weak layers in the snowpack could result in human triggered deeper slabs to two feet in depth or more on very steep terrain.