WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 Good morning. This is Doug Chabot with the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Advisory issued Wednesday, February 11th, at 7:30 a.m. This advisory does not apply to operating ski areas. MOUNTAIN WEATHER Scattered snowfall amounted to 1-2 inches in most mountain locations, although the Bridgers were completely missed. Ridgetop winds are blowing from the west to southwest at 10-20 mph with temperatures in the single digits. Unsettled weather will bring light snowfall over the next few days as temperatures only rise into the teens and winds remain light. Weak energy and minimal moisture will drop 1-3 inches of snow by tomorrow morning, slightly favoring the southern ranges. SNOWPACK AND AVALANCHE DISCUSSION The Bridger, Gallatin and Madison Ranges, the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone, the mountains around Cooke City and the Washburn Range: Ever so slowly we're burying a layer of facets that formed at the surface during the third week of January. They're now covered with 12-16 inches of snow and found throughout our advisory area. On Saturday, small avalanches released on this layer on Mt. Blackmore. Besides this uniform weakness, we also buried surface hoar 3-5 inches deep in the southern Madisons. Skiers saw many sluffs and a small soft slab avalanche on these feathery crystals around Taylor Fork on Sunday. On slopes where the snow above the layer is either deeper or formed a stiff slab, I would expect to see shooting cracks or collapsing-warning signs of instability. Other than laziness, there's really no excuse to not dig down and check the stability. You don't even need to unpack your shovel. A layer of faceted, sugary snow buried a foot off the ground is less of a concern, but still something to keep in mind. Much to our dismay, on some slopes it still fractures clean in our stability tests, especially if the snowpack is thinner. On Sunday, skiers triggered a slide on these facets south of Livingston. It was the first time in three weeks we've heard of an avalanche breaking on them. It's been a few days since the weekend's isolated avalanche activity. The snowpack has been getting an inch or two of new snow daily. This light load is adding just enough stress to keep the possibility of triggering a slide on these upper layers alive. For today the avalanche danger is rated MODERATE on all slopes.