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: Breezy. Partly cloudy in the morning...then cloudy with snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation up to 1 inch. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 80 percent. Highs 21°F to 27°F. Lowest wind chill readings -10°F to -20°F in the morning.

Tonight: Snow. Snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches. Total snow accumulation 1 to 3 inches. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the evening. Chance of snow 80 percent. Lows 4°F to 10°F.

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 21°F to 27°F.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Lows -1°F to 5°F.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy. Isolated snow showers. Chance of snow 20 percent. Highs 20°F to 26°F.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy with scattered snow showers. Chance of snow 30 percent. Lows 4°F to 10°F.

Thursday: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 23°F to 29°F.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 10°F to 16°F.

Friday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 28°F to 34°F.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 15°F to 21°F.

Saturday: Partly cloudy. Highs 32°F to 38°F.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 16°F to 22°F.

Sunday: Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 28°F to 34°F.

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Mountain Weather

No new snow has fallen over the past 24 hours. Currently, temperatures are in the single digits to low teens Fahrenheit and winds are light out of the West-southwest blowing 5 to 20 mph. Today, clouds and wind will increase as a cold front approaches from the west. Before the front arrives temperatures will warm into the twenties Fahrenheit under partly to mostly cloudy skies. The cold front will arrive sometime after noon delivering a brief shot of snow and gusty winds. Light snow showers will develop behind the front with 3 to 5 inches possible by later tonight. After the frontal passage, winds will shift to the Northwest blowing 10 to 20 mph.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

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

Yesterday, the snowpack received a well deserved break. After a fast and furious storm on Saturday, clear skies and calm weather over the past 24 hours has allowed the snowpack some time to adjust.

Today, the primary avalanche concern will be wind loaded slopes. Strong winds from the north-northwest on Saturday formed wind slabs near ridgelines and exposed terrain features. Wind slabs will be most reactive on south facing slopes where a thin layer of facets around an ice crust exists below the slabs. On Saturday, we found this facet/crust combo to be a concern on south facing slopes in Hyalite. It also produced unstable results during stability tests in the Taylor Fork yesterday. On shadier aspects, wind slabs may be resting over a layer of lower density storm snow which may act as a temporary weak layer. Although wind loaded slopes are slowly stabilizing, they need to be recognized and approached with caution.

A secondary concern is faceted layers buried 1.5 to 3 feet deep (video). Over the past seven days, these layers have been responsible for human triggered avalanches in the Bridger Range, Lionhead area and mountains around Cooke City (photo, photo). The problem with these deeper layers is they do not exist on all slopes and will not display signs of instability such as cracking and collapsing. Triggering a slide on a deeper faceted layer will be easiest on non-uniform slopes where the snowpack is thin and variable (photo). It's safe to assume that all slopes have buried weak layers until proven otherwise.

Today, wind slabs and weak layers make human triggered avalanches possible and the Avalanche Danger is rated 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.