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.

Today: Breezy. Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Areas of blowing snow. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Highs 20°F to 26°F.

Tonight: Breezy. Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Areas of blowing snow. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Lows 12°F to 18°F.

Wednesday: Breezy. Not as cold. Mostly cloudy. Occasional flurries. South winds 15 to 20 mph. Highs 28°F to 34°F.

Wednesday Night: Breezy...cloudy. Slight chance of snow in the evening...then chance of snow after midnight. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 30 percent. Lows 15°F to 21°F.

Thursday: Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Highs 22°F to 28°F.

Thursday Night: Colder. Snow likely. Light snow accumulations. Chance of snow 60 percent. Lows 0°F to 6°F.

Friday: Colder. Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Highs 5°F to 11°F.

Friday Night: Colder. Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows -3°F to -9°F.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 2°F to 8°F.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows -4°F to -10°F.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 6°F to 12°F.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows -2°F to -8°F.

Monday: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 10°F to 16°F.

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Mountain Weather

In the last 24 hours 1 to 2 inches have fallen around Bozeman, 3 to 4 inches around Big Sky, 4 to 5 inches near West Yellowstone and 8 inches outside Cooke City. Mountain temperatures are in the teens Fahrenheit with west to southwest winds averaging 20 to 30 mph and gusting to 50 mph. Today will be cloudy with temperatures rising to near 20 Fahrenheit as winds continue to blow strong out of the west to southwest. By morning a trace to one inch of new snow is expected, but don't fret, much more is slated for Thursday.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

Yesterday's snowfall buried a surface weakness of facets and feathery surface hoar crystals that formed during last week's sunny weather. Facets do not play nice: they are sugary and do not bond together and they can persist for months. This layer is found in all our mountain ranges and is now our #1 avalanche problem. More snow this week will increase the danger quickly, especially on wind-loaded slopes. Eric's video from last week shows us the problem very clearly. And the surface hoar in this photo, taken in Beehive Basin, is now buried too.

The Bridger and Northern Gallatin Ranges:

In the last 48 hours only 2 to 3 inches has fallen in the Bridger and northern Gallatin Ranges. This small amount of snow is plenty to bury the small, sugary facets that formed on the surface. In the Bridger Range on Thursday a skier triggered a wind drift that was sitting on these facets and took a 1,000 foot ride (his video, our video, photo). He was unscathed. This avalanche is a preview of what to expect as we get more snow in the coming days. Slopes with a wind-load have a MODERATE Avalanche Danger since it's possible to trigger avalanches on them today. All other slopes have a LOW Avalanche Danger. More than a few inches of snow will quickly bump this danger up further.

Southern Gallatin and Madison Ranges, the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone and Cooke City:

In the mountains from Big Sky to West Yellowstone and Cooke City, four to eight inches of snow and strong winds just buried a new, and I'm guessing resilient, weak layer. Although the grains are small, the layer is up to four inches thick and unmistakable: they will fall out of the pit wall and on steep slopes you can push sluffs of them down the hill. This layer is widespread. Yesterday, Eric and I rode up Buck Ridge south of Big Sky and watched it all get buried by wind-blown snow. This weak layer will not support much of a load. We were watching the avalanche danger rise right in front of our eyes as soft wind slabs formed.

Winds are strong again today and if you get on a wind-loaded slope it's likely you'll trigger an avalanche. Although they won't be very deep, they will propagate far. For today, the Avalanche Danger on any wind-loaded slope is CONSIDERABLE. Slopes without a wind-load will have a MODERATE Avalanche Danger since it's possible to trigger slides on these slopes too.

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) and (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.