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: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Highs 22°F to 28°F.

Tonight: Partly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the evening becoming south around 15 mph early in the morning. Lows 4°F to 10°F.

Thursday: Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Highs 24°F to 30°F.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the evening. Lows 7°F to 13°F.

Friday: Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 24°F to 30°F.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 7°F to 13°F.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 21°F to 27°F.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 3°F to 9°F.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 17°F to 23°F.

Sunday Night: Colder. Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow. Lows -5°F to 5°F.

Monday: Partly cloudy. Highs 14°F to 20°F.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows -4°F to 6°F.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. Highs 21°F to 27°F.

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Mountain Weather

At 5:00 AM there's no new snow to report. Westerly winds are averaging 10 to 15 mph with gusts to 30 mph under clearing skies. Mountain temperatures are near 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Today will be partly cloudy as winds remain the same and temperatures rise into the high 20s Fahrenheit. High pressure is building and there will be little chance of precipitation over the next few days.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

Bridger Range, Northern Madison Range, and Cooke City:

As the days pass and we get further away from last week's heavy snowfall the overall avalanche danger is decreasing. This is good news. But there are lingering instabilities which are not obvious, and that's the bad news. Human triggered and natural avalanche activity spiked over the weekend (many photos), but even yesterday, the Big Sky Ski Patrol had full depth avalanche releases during control work on old faceted snow. And on Monday, a snowbike triggered a 100 foot wide avalanche in Sheep Creek outside Cooke City.

There are weak layers in the snowpack: sugary facets near the ground on slopes that were less than three feet deep before the recent storm (video); and smaller grained facets that were at the surface, but now buried. Dig and search for these layers. During periods of nice weather, great riding conditions and decreasing avalanche danger, it's easy to get complacent. Avalanches can still be triggered, especially on slopes that were wind-loaded or where the snowpack doubled in depth with last week's storm. Consequently, the Avalanche Danger is rated MODERATE on all slopes today.

Southern Madison Range, Gallatin Range, the Lionhead Area near West Yellowstone:

The mountains south of Big Sky to West Yellowstone, as well as the entire Gallatin Range, which includes Hyalite Canyon, have widespread instability. In the Gallatin Range 2 to 3 feet of snow fell and stressed many slopes to their breaking point, especially those with a thinner snowpack (i.e. Mount Ellis and Mount Blackmore). In the southern Madison Range weak surface snow was buried under 1 to 1.5 feet which produced many avalanches. This layer is still a problem. Yesterday, Mark rode around Taylor Fork and Cabin Creek and had these facets propagate in two out of his three snowpits. He was on the hunt for instability. One stable snowpit is not enough evidence of safe conditions, especially when we are confident a weak layer exists. Dig another, and another. Natural avalanche activity on Friday, human triggered slides on Sunday (photo), poor stability test scores yesterday and a known persistent weak layer all point to a CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger on slopes steeper than 35 degrees and a MODERATE Avalanche Danger on all other terrain.

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.