Salt River and Wyoming Ranges

The General Avalanche Hazard is MODERATE. Overnight, new snowfall combined with strong Southwesterly and Westerly ridgetop winds have formed pockets of new soft slab 6 to 18 inches deep in wind loaded starting zones above 9,000 feet. These easily triggered slabs lie atop a mostly stable snowpack that has undergone several melt-freeze cycles over the last week, and any avalanche activity should be confined to the new snow that has fallen over the past few days.

( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )A couple of rapidly moving weather systems will continue to bring unsettled conditions to the area Monday night and into Tuesday. One to three inches of new snow could accumulate in the mountains by Tuesday evening. Overnight temperatures up high are expected to dip into the teens before rising into the 20s on Tuesday. The valley should see lows in the mid 20s and highs in the low 30s. West-southwesterly ridgetop winds at 25 to 35 mph are forecasted to veer to the Northwest and decrease to 15 to 25 mph by Tuesday morning.The General Avalanche Hazard is expected to be LOW on Tuesday. Melt-freeze cycles over the last week have led to a mostly stable snowpack when frozen. While unlikely, backcountry travelers could still trigger isolated pockets of dry surface slab up to a foot in depth persisting on very-steep, shaded aspects above 9,000 feet. Strong winds and new snow could also combine to form new, shallow surface slabs 4 to 8 inches deep in wind loaded starting zones at the upper elevations by Tuesday morning. Mostly bare ground exists at the lower elevations.