Tetons

New snow driven by strong southwestern winds has continued to build soft surface slabs. Avalanche hazard reduction was conducted at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort for the first time of the season with numerous slides triggered with explosives. Most involved only recent snowfall with crown depths of one to two feet. One avalanche failed on the hard early season crust with a crown depth up to seven feet. In steep, wind loaded avalanche terrain above 7,500 feet, recently developed soft slabs up to 30 inches in depth, along with deeper hard slabs to four feet, are likely to be triggered by backcountry travelers and could release naturally. TRAVEL IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN ABOVE 9,000 FEET IS NOT RECOMMENDED TODAY. At the lower elevations, the snowpack is mostly stable except for isolated pockets of shallow soft slab in very steep, shaded terrain.

The heavy snowfall will continue into the evening and taper to light snowfall by morning. Winds are veering towards the northwest and will remain quite gusty through the day on Wednesday. Bitter cold air will move into the region. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be CONSIDERABLE above an elevation of 7,500 feet. Humans who venture into steep avalanche prone terrain are likely to trigger soft surface slabs up to three feet deep. Deeper hard slabs up to five feet in depth could also be human triggered especially by larger triggers such as snowmobiles or groups of people. The general avalanche hazard at the lower elevations is expected to be LOW.