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Daily Winter Weather Report

Date: Tuesday - March 08, 2011


Station Max Temp Min Temp Pres Temp New Snow Depth Sky Present Conditions
Canyon 32 4 5 T 48 SC Calm
East Entrance 35 11 16 T 42 OC Calm
Grant Village 37 14 16 T 57 OC Calm
Lake 25 8 11 T 50 OC Calm / lite snow
Lamar 37 14 20 1 31 OC Calm / lite snow
Madison 35 3 15 1 34 OC Calm / snowing
Mammoth 41 17 19 T 18 BC SW@3-4mph
Old Faithful 36 6 12 1 38 OC ESE@2-3mph
Pahaska 35 12 18 T 40 OC Calm
Snake River 35 10 20 1 61 OC Calm / lite snow
Soda Butte 47 9 13 T 22 OC Calm
Thumb Divide 37 14 16 T 58 OC Calm
Tower 34 14 18 0 31 OC SSW@2-3mph
West Entrance 35 13 14 T 46 OC Calm / lite snow
T=Trace / BC=Broken Clouds / OC=Overcast / SC=Scattered Clouds
All Temperatures are in °F ~ All Snow Depths are in Inches


* * * Road Conditions * * *
Road Section Status Conditions Public Access / Info
Gardiner to Mammoth YR Good STR
Mammoth to Tower YR Good STR
Tower to NE Entrance YR Fair STR
Beartooth Highway CLOSED * CLOSED * CLOSED *
Canyon to Lake Open Fair Oversnow
Firehole Canyon Drive Open - Oversnow - Snowcoaches only in the morning
Grant to South Entrance Open Good Oversnow
Junction to Chief Joseph Hwy CLOSED * CLOSED * CLOSED *
Lake to East Entrance CLOSED * CLOSED * CLOSED *
Lake to West Thumb Open Fair Oversnow
Madison to Old Faithful Open Good Oversnow
Madison to West Yellowstone Open Good Oversnow
Mammoth to Norris CLOSED * CLOSED * CLOSED *
Norris to Canyon Open Fair Oversnow
Norris to Madison Open Good Oversnow
Old Faithful to Grant Open Good Oversnow

YR=Year Round / NR=No Restrictions / STA=Snow Tires Advised / STR=Snow Tires Required

* NOTE: CLOSED FOR THE SEASON.

# Poor road conditions - bare spots and melting snow - Restricted to Snowcoaches Only.

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

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

 SPECIAL INFORMATION

Yellowstone Seven Day Forecast on March 08, 2011
by the National Weather Service Riverton, WY

Today...Breezy...cloudy. Slight chance of snow in the morning... Then chance of snow in the afternoon. Highs 24°F to 30°F. Southwest winds around 15 mph early in the afternoon increasing to 20 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 40 percent.

Tonight...Windy. Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Lows 13°F to 19°F. Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph shifting to the west 15 to 20 mph early in the morning.

Wednesday...Breezy. Not as cold. Cloudy. Slight chance of snow in the morning...then chance of snow and slight chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs 32°F to 38°F. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Wednesday Night...Breezy. Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows 19°F to 25°F. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph.

Thursday...Breezy. Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow in the morning... Then chance of rain and snow in the afternoon. Highs 37°F to 43°F. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.

Thursday Night...Snow likely. Moderate snow accumulations. Lows 15°F to 21°F. Chance of snow 70 percent.

Friday...Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. A 40 percent chance of snow. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Friday Night...Colder. Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 6°F to 12°F.

Saturday...Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 29°F to 35°F.

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

Sunday...Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 28°F to 34°F.

Sunday Night...Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Lows 14°F to 20°F.

Monday...Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 31°F to 37°F.

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

* * * Snow Depth Totals as reported at SNOTELs * * *
Station Depth (inches) Station Depth (inches)
Black Bear 109 Parker Peak 84
Blackwater 75 Snake River Station 43
Canyon 53 Sylvan Lake 63
Evening Star 86 Sylvan Road 48
Fisher Creek 104 Thumb Divide 58
Grassy Lake 100 Two Ocean Plateau -
Lewis Lake Divide 97 West Yellowstone 46
Madison Plateau 74 Whiskey Creek 58
Northeast Entrance 43 Wolverine 43

Avalanche Information
from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center - March 08, 2011 - this report is by Doug Chabot. This advisory does not apply to operating ski areas.

Mountain Weather

Most mountain locations picked up 1 to 2 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours. Winds have been calm with mountain temperatures last night dropping to 10°F from yesterday's highs in the upper 20s Fahrenheit. Today will turn sunny before clouding up later this afternoon. Temperatures will reach the low 30s Fahrenheit and winds will pick up from the west. Tonight snowfall will measure 2 to 4 inches with ridgetop winds at 20-30 mph.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

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

Today is a day of transition.

Two things have the potential to ramp up the avalanche danger and create lingering instability and tricky assessment.

1. Yesterday, we formed surface weak layers which are now preserved under 1 to 2 inches of snow.

2. The winds are increasing and will begin to load many slopes.

Immediately north of Bridger Bowl skiers found widespread surface hoar at all elevations. Outside Cooke City, small facets were found at the surface on east facing slopes from radiation recrystallization. On direct south facing slopes it may have been too warm for both these layers to develop, but I have a hunch they can be found on many slopes in our forecast area. These layers were capped last night with new snow; a scary gift to be unwrapped later.

The mountains are covered with low density powder from the weekend, ammunition for wind slabs. With increasing winds forecasted, this snow will quickly load slopes. The avalanche danger will rise in tandem with wind speeds. On windward slopes the winds may strip weak layers away while leeward terrain gets loaded. Even without a buried weak layer, freshly formed wind slabs will be avalanche prone.

On Sunday, Eric and I investigated a slide from the day before in the southern Madison Range. Skiers dropped a cornice which broke out a wind-loaded slope. The avalanche propagated 150 feet wide on a layer of facets. Pictures, video and snowpit of the avalanche are all on the website.

Currently, human triggered avalanches are possible on wind-loaded slopes which have a MODERATE Avalanche Danger. Slopes that have not received a wind-load have a LOW Avalanche Danger. If the winds increase as forecasted, I expect the danger to rise to CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger. Wind-loading will be obvious with plumes of snow blowing off the ridgelines. A few natural slides by the end of the day will not be out of the question and the likelihood of triggering these wind-loads will increase too.


PHOTOS, SNOWPITS, VIDEO and SURVEY RESULTS

1. We've recently uploaded more photos and snowpits to our web site, more than what are linked in the advisory.

2. We're creating a series of "How To…" stability test videos. So far we've got clips on performing a CT and ECT. There are located under Stability Tests on the Resources page.

3. The results from our survey are posted online. Thanks to all who participated. You can check out the results at http://bit.ly/fpLuSi.

In response to our survey we added a new page to the website with images of our snowpit profiles. This page is under the Resources/Other Info tab at http://fsavalanche.org/Encyclopedia/snowpit.htm

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

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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