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...snow. Areas of blowing snow. Snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent. Highs 20°F to 26°F.

Tonight: Breezy...snow. Areas of blowing snow. Snow accumulation of 2 to 3 inches. West winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

Thursday: Breezy. Cloudy with snow. Areas of blowing snow. Snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches. Total snow accumulation 5 to 10 inches. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent. Highs 23°F to 29°F.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Areas of blowing snow. Southwest winds around 15 mph. Lows 14°F to 20°F.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 25°F to 31°F.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Occasional flurries through the night. Patchy fog after midnight. Lows 9°F to 15°F.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Lows 9°F to 15°F.

Sunday: Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Highs 28°F to 34°F.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 12°F to 18°F.

Monday: Partly cloudy. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 14°F to 20°F.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Highs 29°F to 35°F.

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

Mountain Weather

Yesterday's storm dropped 22 inches in the Bridger Range. They just picked up another five inches this morning while the rest of our advisory area received 2 to 4 inches. Unsettled weather will continue to bring snow, but the real change is the wind. Relatively calm winds yesterday are no longer. Westerly winds are currently averaging 20 to 30 mph with gusts hitting 45 mph. These will continue today before tapering tonight. Mountain temperatures are near 10 degrees Fahrenheit this morning and will warm into the low 20s Fahrenheit. By early tomorrow I expect an additional 3 to 6 inches.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

The Bridger Range:

The avalanche equation is easy: 27 inches of 3% powder + 40 mph winds = avalanches.

Yesterday, the snow sluffed, but did not form slabs. The winds will change that. They are blowing strong at the ridgeline and will rapidly form soft slabs that will be easily triggered. Even at lower elevations it won't take much wind to create fresh wind slabs. Cracks shooting out in front of our skis are a red flag that wind drifts are ripe to avalanche. Today is not the day to jump onto exposed terrain off the ridge. Wind slabs will be like a school of hungry sharks waiting to eat skiers. Today the Avalanche Danger is rated HIGH on all wind-loaded terrain. Slopes steeper than 35 degrees without a wind load are rated CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger since its likely you can trigger fast moving loose snow avalanches; less steep slopes have a MODERATE Avalanche Danger.

Cooke City, Northern Gallatin, Northern Madison Ranges:

Two to four inches fell around Big Sky, Hyalite Canyon and Cooke City. Mark toured through a few different areas in the northern Madison Range yesterday. He mostly found a strong snowpack, but noted a few south-facing slopes have weak snow buried a foot under the surface. Its distribution is spotty which means you have to carefully evaluate the snowpack; there are no shortcuts, and in Mark's words, "It's no joke." Increased wind speeds are loading slopes which will likely fracture and avalanche today, especially with a skier or snowmobiler trigger. Any wind-loaded slope has a CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger while those untouched by the wind are rated MODERATE Avalanche Danger.

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

A snowmobiler triggered a small soft slab avalanche on Lionhead yesterday (photo). The southern mountains have a weak layer buried 8 to 10 inches under the surface. A few miles north of this avalanche, on Sunday, Eric did numerous stability tests and got this layer to propagate fractures in every one (video, photo). There is potential for avalanches to break far across a slope on this layer, especially with more snowfall and wind-loading. This weak layer is easy to find: it's less than a foot deep and is identified as a two inch stripe (photo) in the pit wall. Take our word for it—if it's there, it's unstable. Additionally, cracks, whumphs and recent avalanche activity are Mother Nature's way of telling us to play somewhere else. For today, wind-loaded slopes have a CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger while all other slopes are rated MODERATE 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.