Good morning. This is Eric Knoff with the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Advisory issued on Sunday, March 22, at 7:30 a.m. World Boards and Spark R&D sponsors today’s advisory. This advisory does not apply to operating ski areas.
Overnight a passing snow shower dropped one inch of snow in the mountains around Bozeman and two inches around Cooke City. This morning, temperatures are in the 20s F and winds are blowing 10-25 mph out of W-NW. Today, temps will warm into the mid to upper 30s F and winds will continue to blow 10-25 out W-NW. Skies will be mostly clear this morning but will become increasingly cloudy as the day progresses. Little to no precipitation is expected over the next 24 hours, but a good shot of valley rain and mountain snow is forecasted to impact the area tomorrow night into Tuesday.
Bridger Range Madison Range Gallatin Range
Lionhead Area near West Yellowstone Cooke City
Temperatures dropped well below freezing last night which will eliminate the potential for wet snow avalanches during the morning hours. If the sun appears for an extended period of time and temps warm into the upper 30s F, wet snow avalanches will become possible later in the day. This problem will be most prevalent on south facing slopes.
The dry snow avalanche hazard is confined to upper elevation, north facing slopes, specifically those that have received a wind load. This past Thursday, a skier in the Bridger Range narrowly escaped being caught after they triggered a wind loaded slope near Fairy Lake (video). Mark and his partner investigated this avalanche on Friday and found that wind slabs in this area were resting over a thin layer of facets. This problem may be isolated to the northern Bridgers or it may have been a short lived problem. Yesterday, I skied into Beehive Basin north of Big Sky and found wind-blown snow to be well bonded to the hard underlying bed surface (video). Although the likelihood of triggering a dry snow avalanche continues to decline without new snow, it’s worth testing wind loaded slopes before committing to steep terrain.
Today, the wet snow avalanche danger will start out LOW this morning, but could rise to MODERATE by this afternoon. The dry snow avalanche danger is also LOW, but it’s worth watching out for unstable snow in isolated areas.
I will issue 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 587-6984.