Tetons

Over two feet of snow since Friday rest on slick crusts on southerly exposures and weak faceted snow on northerly aspects at upper elevations. Easily triggered soft slabs to 36 inches in depth on avalanche prone slopes are likely. Sunday, skiers released full track slides in Mile Long and "B" couloirs in Grand Teton Park. Other reported slides pulled out wide areas and ran very quickly over long distances which resulted in deep deposition despite some crowns being relatively shallow. At mid and low elevations easily triggered sloughs will be dangerous in areas where debris can pile up such as ravines and terrain traps. In addition some potential remains for travelers, especially those on snowmachines, to trigger hard slabs up to six feet deep in some steep upper elevation avalanche paths.A Winter Storm Watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for potentially heavy snow and strong, gusty winds in the Teton and Gros Ventre Mountains this afternoon to Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday night into Wednesday moderate snowfall and strong, gusty westerly winds are forecasted. Accumulations of 6 to 10 inches are expected with locally deeper amounts on the west side of the Tetons. Temperatures will remain near zero overnight then rise into the teens Wednesday. Over two feet of recent snow currently rests on slick crusts and weak faceted snow. New snow and strong winds will add to existing unstable slopes increasing the chance of natural slides and user triggered events on a variety of aspects. Soft slabs running within the newer snow or involving the new and old snow could be up to three feet deep. As noted in the Wolf Mountain slide, the potential remains for deep, hard slabs up to six feet in depth to be triggered, especially by snowmobiles. The possibility of triggering these deeper slabs is higher in the Continental Divide/Togwotee Pass area where the snowpack rests on a weak base of faceted snow. The General Avalanche Hazard will begin at CONSIDERABLE Wednesday and may rapidly increase to HIGH with sufficient snow and wind.