Strong west winds and new snow have formed surface slabs in steep wind loaded terrain. These slabs lie upon crusts formed during the past two sunny days. Skiers and riders could trigger these slabs as well as more dangerous hard slabs that lie upon deeper instabilities within the snowpack.
Strong west winds have formed wind slabs on leeward slopes at all elevations. These soft slabs could be triggered with depths up to eighteen inches. Once triggered they have the potential to pull out deeper layers of old snow.
Weak layers of faceted snow persist deep within the snowpack. Failure of these layers will produce very large avalanches with depths up to six feet. These dangerous slabs have become harder to trigger and therefore it is harder to predict which slopes may fail. Larger triggers such a snowmachine or multiple snowmachines on a slope may be needed to cause failure, however, once triggered these slabs are likely to carry severe consequences or death.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )The storm moving into the area is to bring snow in two waves. The first wave is to impact the area overnight and into Friday morning. Light to moderate snow is expected from this wave. A lull in precipitation is expected through part of the day before heavier snow resumes Friday night into Saturday. Winds on Friday are to be stronger with near thirty mile per hour averages from the west expected. Temperatures are to rise into the mid twenties in the mountains and into the thirties in the valleys. The general avalanche hazard will be Moderate in the Teton and Southwest Trails areas. In the Tetons, wind slabs could be triggered with depths to two feet in very steep and aggressive terrain. Similar events could also be triggered in the Southwest Trails area where the chance also continues for larger loads such as snowmachines to trigger old dangerous hard slabs with depths to six feet.In the Togwotee Pass area, the hazard remains Considerable. Avalanches will be easier to trigger in a shallower snowpack that developed very poor structure during dry periods early in the season. Human triggered avalanches to five feet are possible on a variety of aspects
