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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: Saturday - 02 February 2013

Station Pres Temp Max Temp Min Temp New Snow Depth Sky Present Conditions
Bechler 25.0 25.0 25.0 0   OC Gust SSW @ 4 mph
Canyon 23.5 23.5 23.2 0 37 OC  
East Entrance 23.5 26.2 23.4 .06 20 OC  
Lake 21.0 21.0 19.0 .04 34 OC Calm
Madison 23.3 23.3 19.6   18 OC  
Mammoth 18.1 24.2 17.6 .08 11 SC WSW @ 5 - 6 mph
NE Entrance 24.4 25.0 24.4 .10 27 SC  
Old Faithful 22.9 23.0 22.4 0 32 OC ESE @ 2 - 4 mph
Soda Butte 20.1 21.4 18.3 .08   SC  
South Entrance 17.9 24.3 17.8 .14 41 OC  
Sylvan Lake 21.9 22.3 21.7 .10 52 OC  
Sylvan Road 22.5 25.9 22.5 .10 33 OC  
Thorofare 17.0 18.0 17.0 0   OC WNW @ 5 - 8 mph
Thumb Divide 22.6 22.8 22.6 0 44 OC  
Tower 14.9 15.6 13.2 .17   SC WSW @ 1 - 2 mph
West Entrance 26.4 26.4 25.3 0 27 OC  
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, MT to Mammoth Open * Snow Packed/Icy STR - Not Maintained from 4:30 PM to 6:00 AM
Mammoth to Tower Open * Snow Packed/Icy STR - Not Maintained from 4:30 PM to 6:00 AM
Tower to NE Entrance Open * Snow Packed/Icy STR - Not Maintained from 4:30 PM to 6:00 AM
Beartooth Highway CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED
Canyon to Lake Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Canyon to Tower CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED ♦    (Dunraven Pass)
Grant to South Entrance Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Junction to Chief Joseph Hwy CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED
Lake to East Entrance Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Lake to West Thumb Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Madison to Old Faithful Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Madison to West Yellowstone Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Mammoth to Norris Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Norris to Canyon Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Norris to Madison Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles
Old Faithful to Grant Open   Rubber tracked oversnow concession vehicles

* = 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 February 02, 2013
by the National Weather Service Riverton, WY

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows 6°F to 12°F.

Sunday: Mostly sunny. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the afternoon. Highs 27°F to 33°F.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 7°F to 13°F.

Monday: Partly cloudy with isolated snow showers. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 20 percent. Highs 24°F to 30°F.

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

Tuesday: Not as cold. Partly cloudy. Highs 32°F to 38°F.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows 13°F to 19°F.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows 10°F to 16°F.

Thursday: Partly cloudy. Highs 26°F to 32°F.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows 11°F to 17°F.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 22°F to 28°F.

Snowflake Hazardous Weather Forecast Snowflake Yellowstone & Grand Teton Forecasts 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 92 Parker Peak 60
Blackwater 55 South Entrance 41
Canyon 37 Sylvan Lake 52
Evening Star 75 Sylvan Road 33
Fisher Creek 83 Thumb Divide 44
Grassy Lake 73 Two Ocean Plateau 67
Lewis Lake Divide 71 West Yellowstone 27
Madison Plateau 59 Whiskey Creek 37
Northeast Entrance 27 Wolverine 29

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Avalanche Advisory

from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center - February 02, 2013 - this report is by Mark Staples. This advisory does not apply to operating ski areas.

Mountain Weather

Snow showers yesterday morning produced 2 to 4 inches in most areas. This morning temperatures were in the teens Fahrenheit and westerly winds were blowing 10 to 15 mph with gusts 20 to 30 mph. Today will be mostly sunny with temperatures in the low 30s Fahrenheit. Westerly winds will blow 10 to 25 mph.

Snowpack and Avalanche Discussion:

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

Today will have perfect conditions for human triggered avalanches - recent heavy snow, lurking weaknesses in the snowpack combined with sunshine and good powder. What worries me is that many slopes are stable, and signs of instability may not be obvious before triggering an avalanche.

However, mother nature gave us some good clues yesterday.

    1. Ace Powder Guides spotted 10 recent natural avalanches on S facing slopes on Kirkwood Ridge near West Yellowstone. These were 70 to 100 feet wide and broke about 1.5 feet deep.
    2. Gallatin National Forest Snow Rangers remotely triggered a small slide along Beaver Creek on a Southeast facing slope. It was 12 inches deep and about 25 feet wide.
    3. Two slides were remotely triggered on a West facing slope in Beehive Basin. Both were about 1 to 1.5 feet deep and 50 feet wide.
    4. The Moonlight Basin Ski Patrol spotted a small slide on Fan Mountain in a "seemingly shallow faceted area" with a heavy load of new snow.
    5. Eric spotted a natural avalanche (photo) on Mount Blackmore and experienced collapsing and cracking on Southeast facing slopes in areas that previously had a thin snowpack (video).
    6. Two days ago on Mount Ellis, Eric experienced widespread collapsing and cracking (photo).
    7. I saw one small slide near McAtee Basin involving just the new snow on a North aspect, then experienced collapsing and cracking on a South facing slope along Buck Ridge (video).
    8. A skier near Cooke City observed shooting cracks in the snowpack at lower elevations and significant wind drifting at higher elevations (photo).

There are several avalanche problems today. At higher elevations in many places the snowpack is deep and strong, and the avalanche problem is fresh wind slabs and drifts. Fortunately these are usually easy to see and avoid. Another trickier problem is weak facets under the new snow. These facets exist on many slopes that previously had less than 2.5 feet of snow due to low elevation or wind scouring. They also exist on slopes that were sheltered from strong wind events in January and developed a thin layer of near surface facets.

These avalanche problems are confusing and tricky. The simple solution is to avoid any fresh wind slabs and drifts. Also, assume every slope has weak facets under the new snow until you have enough evidence to convince yourself they will be absent from the slopes where you hope to ski or ride. This is not an impossible task but will require careful observations.

Many slopes can easily produce human triggered avalanches today and many will not. These are dangerous avalanche conditions that require careful snowpack evaluations to ski or ride in avalanche terrain. For today the Avalanche Danger is rated CONSIDERABLE.

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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