Tetons

Dangerous avalanche conditions exist at the mid and upper elevations. Weak layers of faceted snow persist in the lower portion of the snowpack. Avalanches involving these layers could still be triggered by the weight of a single person and could result in large to very large hard slab avalanches. Warming temperatures will increase the sensitivity of these slabs as the day progresses. Yesterday morning, a large hard slab was triggered on Taylor Mountain. Similar events could happen today. Conservative decision making and staying out of steep terrain remains the best way to manage this hard to predict, deep slab hazard. Recently formed wind slabs could also be triggered in isolated pockets in steep cliffy areas near prominent ridges. At low elevations, avalanches are unlikely except for small avalanches in isolated terrain features.

Moisture will increase overnight and snowfall should be widespread during the early morning hours. Warmer temperatures during the afternoon may slow down or stop the precipitation before a heavier round of snow arrives Tuesday evening. Mountain temperatures are to rise from near twenty degrees in the morning to highs in the upper twenties. Ridgetop winds are to be southwesterly with ten to twenty mile per hour averages. Two to four inches of snow is expected in the next 24 hours. The general avalanche hazard will be Considerable in the higher terrain of the Teton and Southwest trails area and Moderate at the Togwotee Pass area. Dangerous hard slab avalanches could be triggered by a single person hitting a thin, weak spot on a slope. Although deep slabs in the Togwotee pass area are less sensitive and a little smaller, the problem there is the same. If caught by one of these deep slabs anywhere, the consequences are likely to be severe. These slabs could have depths to eight feet in the Teton and Southwest Trails areas and have depths to five feet in the Togwotee Pass area. Below 7500 feet avalanches will be unlikely except for in isolated pockets in very steep terrain.