Temperatures in the mountains are about 18 degrees warmer than yesterday morning and will rise to near freezing during the day. New snow will begin to accumulate. At the upper elevations southwest winds will begin to form new, soft, shallow wind slabs on leeward aspects in the afternoon. At the mid and upper elevations isolated pockets of wind slab formed several days ago could be human triggered in steep avalanche terrain. Avalanches are unlikely at the lower elevations.
Winds slabs up to 18 inches deep formed several days ago by westerly winds could be triggered by humans who venture into steep avalanche starting zones and cliff areas. New soft, surface slabs will begin to form later in the day in upper elevation starting zones.
Snow that is to increase during Wednesday evening is to taper off in the early morning on Thursday. Periods of light snow are possible during the day on Thursday with snowfall favoring the southern areas of the forecast region. Mountain temperatures are to rise from the low teens in the morning to the mid twenties in the afternoon. West-southwest winds will be strongest during the snowfall with over twenty mile per hour averages. During daylight hours winds speeds between five and ten miles per hour are expected.The general avalanche hazard is expected to be Moderate on Thursday, although the hazard could increase to Considerable if more than anticipated snowfall occurs. Skiers and riders could trigger new soft slabs to a foot in depth as well as existing slabs. In the Tetons these slabs could be soft with two foot depths while in the other forecast areas these slabs could be hard with depths to three feet.
