Southwest winds have formed wind slabs at the upper elevations. These slabs could be human triggered in steep terrain. These wind slabs may exist in isolated terrain features on northerly facing slopes at the mid elevations. Getting caught in even a small avalanche can have serious consequences due to the shallow snow conditions. Snow depths range from one to two feet at the upper elevations. Snow depths below an elevation of 8,000 feet are generally less than six inches.
At the upper and in isolated areas at the mid elevations southwest winds have formed new wind slabs up to 18 inches in depth. These slabs could be human triggered in steep terrain.
Skies were beginning to clear just before sunset. A brief respite in the snowfall is forecast tonight before the snowfall picks up during the day and continues into Tuesday night. At the upper elevations 4 to 8 inches of new snow accumulation is possible in the Teton Range and 2 to 4 inches are possible in the Greys River area and on Togwotee Pass by Wednesday morning. Temperatures will remain in the 20s in the mountains. Winds will continue to be west to southwest at speeds of 10 to 20 with gusts to 30 miles per hour. The general avalanche hazard is expected to remain MODERATE above an elevation of 9,000 feet in the Teton and Greys River areas. Dense surface slabs formed by strong west to southwest winds lie upon firm old snow surfaces. These slabs could be human triggered with depths to two feet in steep wind loaded terrain. The general avalanche hazard below an elevation of 9,000 feet in those areas and at all elevations in the Togwotee Pass area is expected to be LOW. In those areas isolated pockets of wind slab up to a foot in depth could be human triggered above an elevation of 8,500 feet in some steep wind loaded avalanche starting zones. Avalanches are unlikely below an elevation of 8,500 feet, where the recent new snow is shallow and lies upon bare ground.
