Salt River and Wyoming Ranges

The general avalanche hazard is HIGH. Up to 14 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours has been drifted by westerly winds into easily triggered or naturally releasing soft slabs to two feet in depth. The new snow rests on good sliding surfaces of sun crusts or buried surface hoar. The snow has added strain to the deep, hard slab instabilities that plague the region. These poorly supported slabs could fail to the ground and may be triggered by new snow surface slides, a single person, and more likely a snowmobile even after a slope has been crossed multiple times. Sunday, a snowmobiler was killed by a 3 to 4 foot deep hard slab avalanche in the Big Holes west of Victor, Idaho. At lower elevations sloughs could build to dangerous size in steep areas and terrain traps like road cuts or ravines. TRAVEL IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN IS NOT RECOMMENDED TODAY.

( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. ) Steady snow is expected overnight into Monday as the low-pressure system passes through Montana. Storm accumulations at 9,500 feet will be 10 or more inches with locally deeper amounts when the snowfall gradually tapers off Monday afternoon. Winds will veer from westerly to northwesterly overnight with 25 mile per hour averages. Monday morning mountain temperatures will be near 10 degrees and rise to the upper teens during the day. The general avalanche hazard in the Tetons and Greys River areas is expected to be CONSIDERABLE Monday. The light density snow will be blown into easily triggered soft slabs to 18 inches in depth on lee slopes at upper elevations. The possibility of triggering hard slabs to 6 feet in depth that rest on the deeper unstable layers of facted snow will increase.In the Togwotee Pass area and below 7,500 feet in the Tetons the hazard is expected to remain MODERATE. The chance of triggering hard slabs to three feet in depth continues as was shown by a recent slide on Breccia Peak that injured two snowmobilers.