TUESDAY, December 4th

 Good Morning. This is Doug Chabot with the Gallatin National Forest
 Avalanche Advisory issued on Tuesday, December 4th at 7:30 a.m. This
 advisory doesnt apply to operating ski areas. 

 AVALANCHE WARNING

 The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center is issuing a Backcountry
 Avalanche Warning for the southern Gallatin and southern Madison
 Ranges, the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone, the mountains around
 Cooke City and the Washburn Range in northern Yellowstone National
 Park. New snow over the last 48 hours was deposited on an extremely
 weak snowpack. Today the avalanche danger is HIGH on all slopes. Areas
 of unstable snow exist. Natural and human triggered avalanches are
 likely. Avalanche terrain including avalanche runout zones should be
 avoided.

 MOUNTAIN WEATHER

 Is this global warming or global insanity? It was 4 degrees in Bozeman
 on Saturday, now its 41! Besides the warm temperatures its been
 hammering precipitation in our southern mountains along with
 southwesterly ridgetop winds blowing strong at 30-50 mph. Snow line is
 at 7,000 feet and since yesterday morning 7-8 inches of dense snow has
 fallen in the Bridger Range while the southern Madison and Gallatin
 Ranges has been hit with 12-16 inches of glop. Cooke City, never one
 to be left out, also got a foot of new snow. Today winds will blow
 30-40 mph from the west as the southern mountains get another 2-4
 inches of snow during the day.

 SNOWPACK AND AVALANCHE DISCUSSION

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

 The Yellowstone Club is reporting a significant avalanche cycle this
 morning. I imagine its very widespread since conditions only get worse
 the further south you go. The Big Sky Ski Patrol reported natural
 avalanches in spots where theyve never seen them beforerollovers in
 the trees along with a 2-3 foot crown on a road cut. Additionally, the
 Yellowstone Club reported widespread natural avalanches below 8,500
 feet on slopes as low-angled as 28 degrees. Activity like this is a
 HUGE red flag that avalanche terrain is unstable.

 Further south in the Madison Range, Carrot basin recorded 2.5 inches
 of SWE with 16 of snowa huge 24 hour dump! The mountains outside West
 Yellowstone and Cooke City also saw impressive SWE accumulations of
 1.5 2 inches of water which translated into 10-12 inches of snow. The
 problem is that all this weight is creating widespread instability. It
 fell onto varying layers of faceted, weaker snow which are now
 avalanching. Some of these facets formed at the snow surface during
 the cold, clear weather last week, while others are thick layers of
 cupped, angular, depth hoar grains underlying the entire snowpack.

 Either situation is bad for backcountry travel. I am particularly
 concerned about the southern Madison Range since last week I got to
 see first hand how thin and weak the snowpack was. A huge snow load is
 definitely creating widespread, dangerous conditions. For today, the
 avalanche danger is HIGH on all slopes.

 Today is the first day of our daily avalanche advisories. With an
 avalanche warning in place, I recommend you follow our lead by being
 extra cautious as you travel in the backcountry. The avalanche danger
 ramped up noticeably in the last 48 hoursits a totally different world
 out there compared to the blower powder you choked on last week.