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. South winds around 15 mph. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Tonight: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows 8°F to 14°F.

Friday: Cloudy with scattered snow showers. Chance of snow 40 percent. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Friday Night: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Northeast winds around 15 mph. Lows 9°F to 15°F.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Northeast winds around 15 mph. Highs 21°F to 27°F.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of snow. Lows 4°F to 10°F.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow showers. Highs 16°F to 22°F.

Sunday Night: Colder. Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow showers. Lows -8°F to 0°F.

Monday: Partly cloudy. Highs 16°F to 22°F.

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

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

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 6°F to 12°F.

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

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Mountain Weather

Under clear skies this morning, mountain temperatures were in the mid-teens Fahrenheit and Southwest winds were blowing 10 to 15 mph gusting to 25 mph. Today an upper level ridge will move east and some clouds will move over the area. Temperatures should climb only a few degrees to near 20 Fahrenheit and winds will continue the same. Some snow will come Friday followed by cold temperatures on Sunday.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

Bridger Range, Northern Madison Range, and Cooke City:

The odds of triggering an avalanche decrease a little each day without new snow but vary dramatically between slopes. Some slopes have weak, faceted crystals near the ground where the snowpack was less than 3 feet deep (video) prior to last week's snowfall. Other slopes have a thin layer of smaller but equally weak faceted crystals that formed on the snow surface. These faceted crystals formed during periods of cold, clear weather in January and are now buried about 1 to 2 feet deep. Both layers produced avalanches as recently as Monday (avalanche photos).

Where either of these layers exists, the odds of triggering an avalanche are much higher. Slopes without these layers have better stability and lower odds of triggering an avalanche. With such variability, the avalanche danger rating is just a starting point. Revise it up or down depending on your observations and stability tests. For today avalanche conditions remained heightened on specific terrain making human triggered avalanches possible and the Avalanche Danger is rated overall MODERATE.

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

The Gallatin Range generally has facets closer to the ground while the southern Madison Range and Lionhead area generally have facets that formed near the old snow surface. Compared with other parts of the advisory area, these weak layers are much more widespread. On Tuesday I rode in the Taylor Fork area with the director of Montana State University's Snow and Avalanche Laboratory, but it didn't take a scientist to spot faceted layers of snow buried 1 to 2 feet deep. These facets were an obvious stripe in the walls of our snowpits that produced clean, fast, and easy fractures in our stability tests. We found one slope with stable conditions, but this seems to be more the exception than the rule.

Because these areas have widespread, persistent weak layers that produced avalanches over the weekend and continue to yield poor stability test scores, the Avalanche Danger is rated CONSIDERABLE on slopes steeper than 35 degrees and a MODERATE Avalanche Danger on all others.

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.