The new snow and winds will create new shallow soft surface slabs and cause loose snow to sluff from steep slopes. Humans who venture onto steep slopes could trigger soft surface slabs one to three feet in depth. Some potential may persist for humans to trigger deeper slabs with depths of three to five feet in areas with poor snowpack structure. A 26 year old snowmobiler from Iowa died yesterday after being swept into a tree on a slope described as being 1.5 miles east of Togwotee Mountain Lodge. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of those involved in this tragic accident.
At the mid and upper elevations soft surface slabs formed by westerly winds with depths of one to three feet could be human triggered in steep, wind-loaded avalanche starting zones. These slabs could step down to deeper layers of weak faceted snow in areas with poor snowpack structure.
Buried layers of weak snow persist within the snowpack in some areas. Slabs that lie upon these layers could be triggered by backcountry riders and skier. These slabs could have depths of three to five feet,
Expect mostly cloudy skies and periods of light snowfall tonight and tomorrow. Overnight lows in the mountains will be in the single digits before rising into the teens during the day. Westerly to northwesterly ridgetop winds will range from 25 to 35 miles per hour.The general avalanche hazard is expected to be CONSIDERABLE at the upper elevations of the Tetons, and in both the Togwotee Pass and Greys River areas. Strong winds, combined with the possibility for new snow and ample snow available for transport, will continue to build wind slabs in exposed terrain. Backcountry travelers could trigger soft slabs one to three feet deep in steep, wind-loaded avalanche terrain. These slides have the potential to step down to persistent weak layers buried deep within the snowpack.
