Avalanche forecast

Salt River and Wyoming Ranges

Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Triggering an avalanche large enough to bury a person is likely in steep, wind loaded terrain above 8,500', especially at ridgetops. Evaluate snow for cracking where you see wind sculpted pillows and drifts.  A few inches of new snow overnight obscured these clues of wind slabs that developed yesterday so you'll need to dig. Periods of sunshine today could make triggering easier.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    The month of March roared in like a lion with almost four feet of new snow falling since March 1st. Sixteen inches of that fell on Tuesday night and early Wednesday. Southwest and west winds over the past three days built wind slabs and cornices actively through the afternoon yesterday. South-southwest wind speeds averaged 43 mph yesterday and moved lots of snow.  As mentioned above, signs of wind affect will be less obvious today due to 3-4" of new snow that fell overnight. Though no observations are available for this zone today or yesterday, evidence from similar conditions in the nearby Teton forecast zone indicates wind slabs 1-2' deep and up to 4' thick in places are possible.

    Skies will clear today with light wind so beware of sun on the snow. Steep, rocky couloirs facing the sun could grow wet and slide more easily. Snow depths at lower elevations have grown substantially in the past week. Natural small, wet avalanches are possible today on sunny buttes and steep rocky areas.

     

     

    (2/29/2024)

    Active wind transport seen off ridgelines in the upper elevations. Old avalanche from the wind event on 2/26-2/27 seen lookers right on photo. 

    Photo: Alex Drinkard

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3

    Very large avalanches involving deeply buried layers of weak snow remain a possibility when we receive a large load of snow. True they are few and far between but when they break, they break big. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, very steep, hanging snowfields above cliffs along with rocky or notably shallow slopes are where you're most likely to find this problem. The avalanche pictured here is an example of this deep, but stubborn type of avalanche that occurred towards the end of the storm Tuesday night on the west side of the Tetons which is similar to many areas in the Greys River forecast zone.

    A weak layer of snow buried in January currently sits 3-5+ feet beneath a firm slab, at middle and upper elevations in the Salt and Snakes. Weak layers sit closer to the surface in drier areas of the forecast zone. The growing snowpack at lower elevations and shallower areas makes triggering depth hoar or this January weak layer possible at this point.   A large wind slab release or cornice fall also has the potential to trigger a very large natural avalanche such as this one on Treasure Mountain. 

    (3/6/2024) Crown of a very large (D3) avalanche in the South Fork Teton Canyon. This slide was triggered by a cornice fall triggered on the right side of the photo. The avalanche occurred in steep, rocky NE facing terrain at 9400' and 2400' to the valley floor and broke many mature trees.

    Photo: Cameron Galt

Avalanche Discussion

The copious amounts of snow that have fallen in the past week appear to be settling and bonding pretty well in most locations leaving us with mostly human-triggered avalanche problems today. The buried weak layer from January 4 reared its head during this storm in the Tetons and maybe elsewhere but appears dormant without a very large trigger. Only time and continued observations from forecasters but especially from the public will help us gain a better understanding of how deeply this layer is sleeping.  The persistent slab problem slider remains at possible due to the almost unlikely potential of a fresh cornice drop triggering this slab. 

If it seems like it's been snowing a lot, it has. Historical snowpack data shows that we surpassed snow depths at this time last year by five inches and the year prior by 49". You can find archived forecasts, snowpack summaries, and weather records here. (These pages are best viewed on a computer rather than a mobile device.)

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