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Daily Winter Weather Report

Yellowstone National Park Winter Weather Links
Avalanche Advisory Special Weather Info
Daily Winter Weather Report Winter Road Report
Snow Depth Totals Yellowstone Weather Forecast

Date: Tuesday - 22 January 2013

Station Pres Temp Max Temp Min Temp New Snow Depth Sky Present Conditions
Bechler -11.0 -4.0 -11.0 0   SC N @ 2 - 3 mph
Canyon -7.2 -0.0 -7.2 0 29 SC Calm
East Entrance 17.8 22.0 17.2 .01 17 SC  
Lake -11.0 -2.9 -11.0 0 29 SC Calm
Madison -10.1 -1.5 -10.3   18 SC  
Mammoth 18.4 20.6 16.4 0 11 SC S @ 5 - 7 mph
NE Entrance 7.5 18.5 7.5 0 16 SC  
Old Faithful -2.6 0.8 -2.8 0 25 SC SSW @ 1 - 2 mph
Soda Butte -7.6 6.2 -7.6 .02 2.40 SC  
South Entrance -14.1 2.7 -14.1 0 31 SC  
Sylvan Lake -0.8 3.2 -0.8 0 38 SC  
Sylvan Road 21.9 21.9 13.1 0 23 SC  
Thorofare 18.0 22.0 18.0 0   SC SE @ 2 - 5 mph
Thumb Divide -6.0 11.7 -6.0 0 38 SC  
Tower -5.8 3.8 -5.8 .01 7.41 SC ESE @ 2 mph
West Entrance -12.3 -6.3 -12.3 0 23 SC  
T=Trace/ BC=Broken Clouds/ C=Clear/ OC=Overcast/ SC=Scattered Clouds
All Temperatures are in °F ~ All Snow Depths are in Inches

* * Live Weather via All Yellowstone WebCams * *

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* * * Road Conditions * * *
Road Section Status Conditions Public Access / Info
Gardiner to Mammoth Open *   STR
Mammoth to Tower Open *   STR
Tower to NE Entrance Open *   STR
Beartooth Highway CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED
Canyon to Lake Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Firehole Canyon Drive Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Grant to South Entrance Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Junction to Chief Joseph Hwy CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED
Lake to East Entrance Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Lake to West Thumb Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Madison to Old Faithful Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Madison to West Yellowstone Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Mammoth to Norris Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Norris to Canyon Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Norris to Madison Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Old Faithful to Grant Open Fair Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Tower to Canyon CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED

* = Open year-round to wheeled vehicle travel.
NR=No Restrictions / STA=Snow Tires Advised / STR=Snow Tires Required

♦ =  CLOSED FOR THE WINTER SEASON

The park service plowing schedule for roads for the spring season.

******** FOR CURRENT ROAD INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 307-344-2117 ********

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SPECIAL INFORMATION

    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.

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Yellowstone Seven Day Forecast on January 22, 2013
by the National Weather Service Riverton, WY

Today: Sunny. Patchy fog in the morning. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows 7°F to 15°F.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy. Highs 29°F to 35°F.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Lows 8°F to 14°F.

Thursday: Cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. West winds around 15 mph in the afternoon. Highs 18°F to 24°F.

Thursday Night: Breezy. Mostly cloudy. Lows 3°F to 9°F.

Friday: Partly cloudy. Highs 23°F to 29°F.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

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

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows 6°F to 12°F.

Monday: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 19°F to 25°F.

Snowflake Hazardous Weather Forecast Snowflake Gibbon Falls Forecast Snowflake Mammoth Forecast Snowflake Midway Forecast Snowflake Norris Forecast Snowflake Old Faithful Forecast Snowflake

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* * * Snow Depth Totals as reported at SNOTELs * * *
Station Depth (inches) Station Depth (inches)
Black Bear 70 Parker Peak 44
Blackwater 45 Snake River Station 31
Canyon 29 Sylvan Lake 38
Evening Star 49 Sylvan Road 23
Fisher Creek 63 Thumb Divide 38
Grassy Lake 51 Two Ocean Plateau 53
Lewis Lake Divide 58 West Yellowstone 23
Madison Plateau 49 Whiskey Creek 30
Northeast Entrance 15 Wolverine 18

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Avalanche Advisory

from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center - January 22, 2013 - this report is by Doug Chabot. This advisory does not apply to operating ski areas.

Mountain Weather

A ridge of high pressure is firmly parked over the western US. At 4:00 AM temperatures are in the low 20s Fahrenheit under clear skies. Today will be a repeat of yesterday, but slightly warmer: sunny skies, westerly winds 15 to 30 mph and mountain temperatures reaching the upper-thirties Fahrenheit. Sunburns are a greater threat today than avalanches.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

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

Overall the snowpack in southwest Montana is looking pretty good. Pretty good is not perfect, so it's important to know what to look for in order to stay out of trouble. Even though we have not had any storms since last Tuesday, the winds have been scraping every last molecule of snow onto leeward slopes. On a few of these slopes folks were able to trigger small slides. Over the weekend shallow slabs (less than a foot deep) were triggered off Lionhead Ridge (photo). Outside Cooke City a small, but heavily wind-loaded pocket pulled out near Lulu Pass (photo), and Eric had an unexpected collapse on a wind-loaded slope up Hyalite.

Yesterday, my partner and I rode and skied in the Taylor Fork area of the southern Madison Range. The weakest layer in the snowpack is sugary facets buried a foot deep. In our snowpits they only reacted on a southwest facing hill after applying a bit of force (ECTP 16, photo). This layer is slowly gaining strength and without additional snow it's unlikely it would avalanche. On the surface another weak layer is forming (photo) as tiny facets grow over a razor thin ice crust. The process is known as radiation recrystallization, a type of near-surface faceting (article), and can become a problem if it gets buried before the sun has a chance to melt it.

Although stability is getting better by the day it's still possible to trigger a small avalanche on a wind-loaded slope steeper than 35 degrees. Consequently, the Avalanche Danger is rated MODERATE on this terrain. All other slopes have a LOW Avalanche Danger.

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.



Avalanche Danger Scale

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Back to the Yellowstone Daily Winter Reports or the Yellowstone Weather Page

Information provided by Yellowstone National Park, National Weather Service and Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center


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