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: 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.

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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.