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. Also, see the Avalanche Advisory posted below.

Today: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog in the morning. Southwest winds around 15 mph late in the afternoon. Highs 28°F to 34°F.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. West winds around 15 mph early in the evening becoming southwest around 15 mph early in the morning. Lows 7°F to 13°F.

Monday: Mostly cloudy with isolated snow showers. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Chance of snow 20 percent. Highs 24°F to 30°F.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy with isolated snow showers. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Chance of snow 20 percent. Lows 13°F to 19°F.

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow after midnight. Lows 13°F to 19°F.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows 10°F to 16°F.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 22°F to 28°F.

Friday Night: Cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 6°F to 12°F.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 17°F to 23°F.

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Mountain Weather

For the first time in nearly a week there is no new snow to report. Today will be a near ground hog day to yesterday with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures. This morning, temps are in the high teens to mid-twenties Fahrenheit and winds are averaging 5 to 15 mph out of the West-southwest with gusts reaching close to 30 mph. Today, highs will climb into the 30s Fahrenheit under clear skies and winds will remain out of the West-southwest blowing 5 to 20 mph. No new snow is expected over the next 24 hours.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

Bridger, Gallatin, and Madison Ranges, the Lionhead Area near West Yellowstone, and Cooke City:

Yesterday, the snowpack received a well-deserved breather. After impressive storm totals of 55 inches in the Bridger Range and 2 to 3 feet elsewhere, the pack nearly doubled in many areas. This put a tremendous amount of stress on the snowpack. With little surprise, both natural and human triggered avalanches have been reported throughout our advisory area.

Today, there will be two main avalanche problems to consider when traveling in the backcountry. The first and most recognizable will be wind loaded slopes. Yesterday, natural avalanches occurred on wind loaded slopes in the Bridger Range (photo, photo). Recent natural activity was also observed on Cedar and Fan mountains near Big Sky (photo). Today, all wind loaded slopes are suspect and should be approached with caution. Watch for obvious signs of loading such as cornices, rounded drifts and rippled texture of the snow surface. Avoiding slopes where these signs are present will be a simple way to stay out of trouble.

The second avalanche problem is buried persistent weak layers. In the mountains near West Yellowstone, a layer of facets is now buried 1 to 1.5 feet deep. On Friday, Ace Powder Guides spotted 10 natural avalanches on South facing slopes along Kirkwood Ridge near West Yellowstone. Also, a skier at Bacon Rind in the southern Madison Range got 23 out of 28 ECT's to propagate on the layer of surface hoar Doug found earlier in the week – a clear indication this layer is willing and able to produce avalanches.

A trickier problem is weak facets buried deeper in the snowpack. These facets exist on many slopes that previously had less than 2 to 3 feet of snow due to low elevation or wind scouring. This type of structure was responsible for two human triggered avalanches on a west facing slope in Beehive Basin on Friday. I found similar conditions a few days ago on Mount Ellis and on Mount Blackmore (video). In addition, Mark found a comparable snowpack on a south facing slope along Buck Ridge (video). Skiers outside of Cooke City also got cracking and collapsing on mid-elevation slopes on Friday (photo). Today, assume every slope has weak facets buried under the new snow until you have enough evidence to prove otherwise. This is not an impossible task but will require careful snowpack evaluation.

Today, dangerous avalanche conditions exist on wind loaded slopes and slopes steeper than 35 degrees which have a CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger. 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.

EDUCATION, PHOTOS, SNOWPITS, and VIDEOS

1. For links to Articles, Education and (photos), (snowpits), or (videos) listed in the above report, please visit this Link.

2. They have recently uploaded more photos and snowpits to their web site, more than what are linked in the advisory above.

3. They have creating a series of "How To…" stability test videos. So far they have clips on performing a CT and ECT. They are located under Stability Tests on their 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.