Tetons

Surface slabs at the high elevations could be easily triggered today in the backcountry on steep leeward slopes. These slabs could be soft, involving only new snow, or could include denser slabs formed during recent storms to total depths of three feet where slabs lie upon a variety of sliding surfaces including crusts and surface hoar. Yesterday two skier triggered slabs were reported on SE and NE aspects. Similar slabs could also be triggered at the mid elevations today. Avalanches at low elevations are unlikely today except for small pockets of new surface snow.

An artic airmass is moving into the region as a cold low pressure storm over western Montana moves southeast into northern Utah overnight. On Friday expect partly to mostly cloudy skies above valley fog. Temperatures will drop into the negative teens below zero overnight and rise to around zero. Winds will be easterly at 15 miles per hour. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE. Soft surface slabs one to two feet in depth could be human triggered on steep wind loaded slopes. In the Continental Divide/Togwotee Pass and Southwest Trails/Greys River areas deep slab instabilities persist in addition to surface slab concerns. Dangerous deep slabs to the ground could be triggered on steep slopes that have a well developed basal layer of weak faceted snow.