SATURDAY,  JANUARY 23rd, 1999

Good morning, this is Ron Johnson with your Gallatin National Forest Avalanche
 Advisory issued on Saturday January 23rd at 7:30 am.  The next advisory will
 be issued tomorrow morning.  Today's advisory is sponsored by Recreational
 Equipment Inc. with a matching funds grant from the National Forest
 Foundation.  These advisories do not apply to operating ski areas.

Yesterday, I talked about an approaching storm system that was expected to
 reach southwest Montana.  Well, It's Here!  Most mountain locations started to
 get snow around midnight and it is still snowing.  As of 6:00 AM, this weather
 system had blessed the central Madison Range (including Big Sky) with 10
 inches (25 cm) of low density snow.   The Bridger Range has gotten about 3-5
 inches (7.5-12.5 cm).  The mountains around Cooke City and West Yellowstone
 have gotten about 4-6 inches (10-15 cm).  The weather system that is
 responsible for this new snow is pretty complex.  It involves an area of low
 pressure over the Pacific Northwest, some colder air moving into southwest
 Montana from the north, and perhaps a favorable position of the jet stream. 
 What all this means, is that more snow should continue to fall in our area. 
 I'd expect most of the snow should taper off later today or tonight.  Another
 5-10 inches (12.5-25 cm) of new snow could accumulate by tomorrow morning.  I
 think the Big Sky area and the southern mountains are most likely to get 
 "pounded" by  the most "powder".   The Bridger Range may get shut off from the
 "powder pipeline" as the cold air moves in and the winds shift to a less
 favorable direction.  Speaking of cold air, today's mountain temperatures
 should be in the teen's F (-10 C).  Ridgetop winds, which have been fairly
 light from the west to southwest,  should continue at about 10-20 mph, mainly
 from the west to southwest but may become more northerly in the northern
 mountains.  Fresh powder, cool temperatures and fairly light
 wind............somebody out there is sharing some excellent karma with the
 rest of us!

I hope that this good karma can be utilized when dealing with today's snowpack
 and avalanche conditions.  No significant snowpack instability has been
 reported in our area during the past two days.  Prior to that, most of the
 activity was in the southern mountains and in the mountains around Big Sky. 
 Slopes with a thin snowpack and recently wind loaded slopes were the main
 problem areas.  While I don't think the load being added to the snowpack from
 this current storm will be that much (primarily due to the low density of the
 new snow), it still will be enough to warrant some extra caution.  Especially
 when that "caution" could be clouded by "powder fever".  FOR TODAY, FOR THE
 SOUTHERN MADISON , SOUTHERN GALLATIN AND WASHBURN RANGES,  AND THE MOUNTAINS
 AROUND COOKE CITY, WEST YELLOWSTONE AND BIG SKY, I'D CALL THE AVALANCHE DANGER
 CONSIDERABLE ON ALL SLOPES STEEPER THAN 35 DEGREES.  ON SLOPES BETWEEN 30 AND
 35 DEGREES, I'D CALL THE AVALANCHE DANGER MODERATE.  ON GENTLER TERRAIN THE
 AVALANCHE DANGER SHOULD BE MOSTLY LOW.  

FOR THE NORTHERN GALLATIN, NORTHERN MADISON AND BRIDGER RANGES, I CONSIDER THE
 AVALANCHE DANGER TO BE MOSTLY LOW.  HOWEVER, RECENTLY WIND LOADED SLOPES
 STEEPER THAN 35 DEGREES WILL HAVE A MODERATE AVALANCHE DANGER.


The next advisory will be issued tomorrow morning.  If you get out in the
 backcountry and have any snowpack or avalanche information to share, we'd
 appreciate it if you leave a message on our office phone at 587-6984, or
 e-mail us at avalanche@gomontana.com

END