Tetons

Increasing temperatures and direct sunlight will soften the surface crusts on solar aspects at all elevations today, providing for the possibility of wet slides this afternoon. Mostly stable settled powder lies in shaded terrain. Avoid being on or under steep south facing slopes this afternoon. In the valleys, be wary of exposure to roof slides.

Skies will remain clear. Winds will be from the east to southeast at 5 to 20 miles per hour. Wednesday will be a few degrees warmer than today. In all areas the wet snow avalanche hazard will be low in the morning and will increase to moderate on very steep slopes during the warmest portion of the day. On Monday a very large slab avalanche released naturally on a southeast aspect of Lava Mountain. This dangerous deep slab avalanche is believed to have released from an elevation of 10,300 feet and was reported to be very wide and down to the ground. On March 4 a snowmobiler who triggered a large deep slab avalanche on a west aspect in the Breccia Cliffs area did not survive. Very large deep, persistent slab avalanches could be triggered by snowmachines or cornice drops in isolated areas in the Togwotee Pass and Greys River/Southwest Trails forecast areas. Cornice failures and glide avalanches are possible. In these areas the general avalanche hazard is moderate.