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 in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy. South winds around 15 mph. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. South winds around 15 mph until early morning. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

Wednesday: Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Wednesday Night: Cloudy. Snow likely in the evening...then chance of snow after midnight. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Northeast winds around 15 mph. Chance of snow 60 percent. Lows 9°F to 15°F.

Thursday: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. North winds around 15 mph in the morning. Highs 22°F to 28°F.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Lows 8°F to 14°F.

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

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows 8°F to 14°F.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Saturday Night: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows 8°F to 14°F.

Sunday: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 24°F to 30°F.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Lows 7°F to 13°F.

Monday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 25°F to 31°F.

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Mountain Weather

Since early yesterday morning there's no new snow to report. Southerly winds are light at 10 to 20 mph except in Hyalite where they are blowing 25 to 40 mph. Under mostly cloudy skies temperatures are in the teens Fahrenheit, but winds and temperatures are not expected to fluctuate much today. Moisture streaming in from the southwest will only drop a trace to one inch of new snow by morning, but hopefully a little more tomorrow.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

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

Snowfall is weight, and weight correlates to stress on the snowpack. This weekend's snowfall added stress and spiked the avalanche danger, especially on steeper slopes. Eric and others had cracking and collapsing in the southern Madison Range and poor stability test scores around Big Sky. On the northeast aspect of Fan Mountain a three foot deep natural slab avalanche was triggered by a sluff in an area with a thinner snowpack. Around Cooke City a few skier triggered avalanches were reported (photo). The Bridger Range got the most snow, 16 inches, yet surprisingly had very little avalanche activity.

Throughout our forecast area, thin snowpacks (three feet or less) are weak with some being unstable. Furthermore, persistent weak layers are buried 2 to 3 feet deep on many slopes. Feathery crystals of buried surface hoar are breaking clean in tests in Bacon Rind and on a few slopes around Big Sky (photo). Other slopes have smaller grained facets which are harder to spot unless they fracture in a stability test or unmask themselves with a crack or collapse—a red flag. Around Cooke City some southerly facing slopes have a thin ice crust capped with facets buried 1 to 2 feet deep that we need to avoid (photo).

Even though the snowpack in each mountain range has its own personality and quirks, they are all kissing cousins. A common DNA thread of instability is linked to thin snowpacks and weak snow buried 1 to 3 feet under the surface. With time slopes are gaining strength, but avalanches are still possible and the Avalanche Danger is rated MODERATE today

Northern Gallatin Range:

Over the weekend eight inches of new snow was measured in Hyalite Canyon. Ridgetop winds have increased through the night and are blowing stronger than anywhere else: averaging 25 and gusting to over 40 mph. Wind-loading is our primary avalanche concern, and knowing Hyalite, I imagine winds are effectively cross-loading gullies. Additionally, a poor snow structure exists from a layer of weak facets buried 2-3 feet under the surface (or on the ground if the snowpack is thin). While the soft slabs of windblown snow will be easy to identify, the buried facets will require digging. For today, since it's likely someone can trigger an avalanche on wind-loaded slopes, the Avalanche Danger is rated CONSIDERABLE. On slopes without a wind-load the Avalanche Danger is MODERATE.

The next advisory tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM. 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.