Tetons

During the past 26 hours the mountains received up to 20 inches of new snow with two inches of moisture. At the lower elevations this precipitation began as rain and changed over to snow. Strong west winds accompanied the snowfall and created new soft slabs up to three feet deep on the lee aspects of the higher ridge lines. At 3 AM the Wyoming Department of Transportation used the GAZEX, fixed point exploding devices, to trigger an avalanche on Twin Slides that put six feet of debris along 60 feet of the highway. Cleanup operations are in progress. At the upper elevations humans could trigger dangerous soft slabs up to three feet in depth. At the mid elevations the potential exists for humans to trigger slabs up to two feet deep. At the lower elevations the new snow is shallow and expected to be pretty well bonded to the old snow surfaces. Cautious route finding and good decisions regarding travel in avalanche terrain are essential today.

A dryer southwest flow is moving into the region. On Friday skies are expected to be partly cloudy with a slight chance of snow showers. Temperatures will rise into the 20s in the mountains and into the 30s in the valley. Winds will back to the south and decrease to 10 miles per hour. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE at the elevations between 8,000 and 10,500 feet. Soft slabs one to three feet deep could be triggered by humans on steep wind loaded avalanche prone slopes. The sensitivy of these slabs to human triggeres will likely increase as temperatures warm especially on sunlit aspects. Avalanches are unlikely at the lower elevations.