Tetons

At the upper elevations shallow pockets of stiff wind slab formed by north to northwest winds could be triggered by humans who venture into cliff areas and steep avalanche starting zones. At the mid and upper elevations areas of deeper instability persist in steep avalanche paths that did not experience avalanche activity during the holiday storm cycle. In these areas humans could trigger dense slabs up to 30 inches deep that lie upon a weak layer of buried surface hoar and faceted snow that persists beneath these slabs. Avalanches are unlikely at the lower elevations.

The northwest flow over a large high pressure system centered over the west coast will continue to dominate our weather. Limited moisture in this flow will manifest itself as passing high clouds. On Friday skies will be mostly sunny. Temperatures will be inverted at daybreak with overnight lows near 10 degrees in the mountains and near -15 in the valleys. Daytime highs will rise into the mid teens in the valleys and into the low 20s in the mountains. Ridge crest winds will be westerly at about 15 miles per hour.The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE. Some potential persist for a person to trigger a dense slab avalanche up to two feet in depth. Suspect areas are likely to be very steep, possibly rocky and definitely be underlain by weak faceted snow.