Four skiers (and a dog) climb up Thanksgiving Bowl in the backcountry near Teton Pass on their way to making a run down through the powder Dec. 29. Storms in the Teton Mountains dropped more than three feet of snow in four days at the start of this week. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile)
Heavy snows created a weather emergency in the Teton area this week as storms dropped more than three feet of snow in four days. Warm temperatures complicated the scene covering roads with calf-deep slush, closing all highways into and out of Jackson Hole at one point or another early in the week.
The storm caused the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center to issue a widespread avalanche warning Wednesday. The center called the danger “extreme” at high elevations and urged no travel in avalanche country. Skiers enjoyed some of the storm at resorts after patrollers reduced the avalanche hazards, but the warning appears to have limited backcountry activity.
The Upper Green River watershed leads the state in winter precipitation, the snowpack weighing in at 171 percent of normal water content, according to the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Powder River Basin is the lowest at 87 percent.
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