Caution advised for snow falling off of building roofs. Park accordingly.

Dangerous avalanche conditions may already exist in many back country areas, please call the Recorded Avalanche Advisory 406-587-6981 for the most current conditions.

Today: Breezy. Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow in the morning...then slight chance of snow in the afternoon. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 30 percent. Highs 9°F to 15°F. Wind chill readings -12°F to -22°F.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the evening. Lows -4°F to -10°F. Wind chill readings -16°F to -26°F.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the afternoon. Highs 4°F to 10°F. Lowest wind chill readings -18°F to -28°F in the morning.

Wednesday Night: Breezy. Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Lows -3°F below to 3°F. Wind chill readings -15°F to -25°F.

Thursday: Breezy. Not as cold. Partly cloudy. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Highs 16°F to 22°F. Lowest wind chill readings -13°F to -23°F in the morning.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 8°F to 14°F. Lowest wind chill readings -13°F to -23°F in the evening.

Friday: Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 22°F to 28°F.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Lows 12°F to 18°F.

Saturday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 23°F to 29°F.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 14°F to 20°F.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 23°F to 29°F.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

Monday: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Highs 15°F to 21°F.

 Hazardous Weather Forecast  Gibbon Falls Forecast  Mammoth Forecast  Midway Forecast  Norris Forecast  Old Faithful Forecast 

Mountain Weather

Since 5:00 a.m. yesterday morning the mountains picked up 3 to 4 inches of snow, with Cooke City getting eight inches. Winds are blowing 20 to 30 mph out of the west, a decrease from yesterday's gusts that hit 50 to 60 mph. Mountain temperatures are in the chilly single digits Fahrenheit. Today will be partly cloudy with only slight warming. Winds will continue out of the west, but become light. Scattered snow flurries will drop a trace to one inch of new snow by morning. Overall it's a cold, calm, winter day.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

The Bridger, Gallatin and Madison Ranges, the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone and mountains around Cooke City:

I found all the snow that was supposed to fall in Colorado. It's in Cooke City! Mark and I dug three pits to the ground, one as deep as seven feet. Our most shallow pit came in at four feet deep, which was also our weakest, but more about that in a second

Daily snowfall has blanketed southwest Montana over the last 20 days. Winds have been strong, gusty and created wind drifts, most notably at the higher elevation ridge lines where avalanches are likely to be triggered. Ski patrols on Lone Peak were able to trigger these wind-loaded slopes, and a sledder on Sunday noted natural avalanche activity from wind-loading on Buck Ridge south of Big Sky as well.

Talking to snowmobilers yesterday I condensed the entire advisory into one sentence: Besides wind-loaded slopes, the stability is pretty good. This assessment seems accurate for our entire area. I do not expect folks to trigger avalanches from a distance, nor do I expect a widespread avalanche cycle in the coming days. You can ride and ski most slopes without consequence. But nothing's perfect, and that goes for our snowpack too. The shallow pit Mark and I dug on the south side of Henderson Mountain illustrates this well. A layer of weak snow (facets) near the ground was breaking clean in our tests (ECTP21, Q1; snowpit). We've gotten similar results in the Madison, Gallatin and Bridger Ranges, but only on a handful of slopes. With the latest round of storms we have not seen natural or human triggered avalanches on this layer, but we will continue to monitor it. On Sunday, Moonlight Basin was able to trigger a wind-loaded slope with big explosives that stepped down to this weaker snow. The avalanche was large and reminds me that even relatively strong facets can still avalanche.

Mark and I stayed clear of wind-loaded slopes and skied lines that were not very exposed. Triggering wind drifts could step down to deeper layers on select, but not easily identifiable slopes. Dig and test. For today, the Avalanche Danger continues to be rated CONSIDERABLE on all wind-loaded terrain. All other slopes have a MODERATE Avalanche Danger.

The next advisory tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. If you have any snowpack or avalanche observations, drop us a line at mtavalanche@gmail.com or call us at: 406-587-6984.

PHOTOS, SNOWPITS, and VIDEOS

1. We've recently uploaded more photos and snowpits to our web site, more than what are linked in the advisory.

2. We're creating a series of "How To…" stability test videos. So far we've got clips on performing a CT and ECT. There are located under Stability Tests on the Resources page.

Information provided by Doug Chabot, Mark Staples, and Eric Knoff from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center. For Photos and Videos, please visit the Avalanche Centers Website!

If you have any snowpack or avalanche observations, drop them a line at mtavalanche@gmail.com or call: 406-587-6984.

For detailed Avalanche Terms utilized here, please see the Avalanche Glossary.