Avalanche forecast

Tetons

Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Wind slabs that formed with Monday's snowfall, and the strong winds that followed, remain a problem. You’re most likely to encounter a slab that you could trigger in upper-elevation terrain, particularly where they are resting on hard, icy surfaces.  Sunshine and warmer temperatures mid-day may impact snow surfaces, potentially leading to small wet snow avalanches on sunlit slopes or easier-to-trigger wind slabs. 

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Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Ten inches of snow and strong northeast winds that stripped and deposited snow in alpine locations on Monday are an avoidable problem. New wind slabs are likely to be under a foot thick but may be reactive, especially on sunlit areas, near cliffs or on really steep slopes over 35 degrees. Isolated areas were snow accumulates, either through wind rotor action, beneath corniced areas or in places where spindrift accumulates should be assessed or avoided. Despite the cold temperatures to start, low winds speeds and temps approaching 20F may allow for these slabs to dampen and grow easier to trigger.

    2/14/23

    Fresh wind slab cracking on Mt. Taylor at 8,500' on Tuesday.

Avalanche Discussion

You may notice the absence of the Persistent Slab problem in the forecast this morning. Though weak layers of snow still exist in our snowpack, triggering a persistent slab or deep slab avalanche has become very unlikely. The last avalanche on the  weak layer of facets buried on January 26th occurred on January 30th on the Southeast face of Mount Taylor in the southern Tetons. That layer may become active again with a large additional load of SWE or prolonged warm temperatures but for now slabs above it appear to be non-existant or generally unreactive to human triggering.  Surface hoar buried in late January was the culprit more recently in human triggered avalanches on Feb 2 and 9. This layer continues to be found in test pits but only in very isolated, wind sheltered locations in the northern Wyoming Range. It also appears to be dormant.  

Keep these layers in the back of your mind as you travel in the mountains and as you watch the forecast for incoming storms. While these layers have become resistant to human triggering, a large load of new snow may change that.

So far this season, we have received 478 observations which includes 207 avalanche observations. A big thank-you to everyone who has submitted observations this year!

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