Avalanche forecast

Tetons

Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

The avalanche danger is Moderate in the upper elevations today. New snow and wind has formed wind slabs on leeward slopes. These slabs will be easiest to trigger on steep terrain and up to a foot in depth. At the mid elevations isolated pockets of wind slab may be encountered on very steep wind loaded slopes. Warming and periods of sunshine today will allow for shallow wet loose avalanche activity in very steep terrain in the mid and lower elevations. Due to the relatively small size of potential avalanches in the mid and low elevations the danger is Low below 9,000 feet today.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    Strong westerly winds combined with anywhere from 2-8” of new snow helped to form new wind slabs in the upper elevations. Field observations showed generally good bonding between the new snow and old surfaces yesterday. Despite this it will be important to pay attention in terrain with newly formed slabs and be on the lookout for shooting cracks and hollow sounds underfoot. Triggering a wind slab will become more serious when traveling above terrain traps such as cliffs, gullies and trees.

Avalanche Discussion

Skies will remain partly cloudy overnight. Ridgetop temperatures will only dip slightly, into the high teens, before climbing into the high twenties to low thirties tomorrow. Overall temperatures will be five degrees warmer than today. Winds will be out of the west at 15 mph overnight and back to the southwest at 20-25 mph during the day tomorrow. Wind speeds will increase ahead of the next system. Clouds will be on the increase throughout the day and snow showers will develop later in the day. Daytime accumulations will be in the trace to 2” range across all three forecast areas.The snowpack in the Southwest Trails forecast area has shown to be the most active in the past 12 hours. In that area the danger will be Moderate where it will continue to remain possible to trigger avalanches 1-2 feet deep. In the Tetons and on Togwotee the possibility will remain for lingering wind slabs to be reactive in very steep terrain but be much smaller in size and distribution. Warm temperatures and sunshine will increase the likelihood of triggering avalanches tomorrow. That likelihood will begin to go down as cloud cover increases and the temperatures drop.

Regions covered