Trip Planning for Cooke City Area

as of 5:00 am
Today1″ | 15-30 NW
Dec 8 5″ | 15-40 W
Dec 7 1″ | 25-55 S
10020′     12/09 at 10:00
6.3℉
W - 2mph
Gusts 9 mph
9100′     12/09 at 10:00
9℉
30″ Depth
Primary Problem: Persistent Weak Layer
Bottom Line: Unstable snow is widespread across our advisory area. Weak snow at the ground that fell in October and early November has been overloaded by this week’s new snow. Any slope that held snow before last weekend is suspect. If you ride on or beneath steep slopes today, expect to trigger avalanches. Avoid the hazard by sticking to lower angled slopes today and avoiding crossing runout zones beneath steeper slopes.

Past 5 Days

Sun Dec 3

None
Mon Dec 4

None
Thu Dec 7

Considerable
Fri Dec 8

Considerable
Today

Considerable

Relevant Avalanche Activity

Widespread cracking and collapsing
Coordinates: 45.2952, -111.4100
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Cracking and collapsing reported across the advisory area in the Bridger Range, Big Sky area, near West Yellowstone and Island Park, and near Cooke City.


More Avalanche Details
Cooke City
Henderson Mountain
Natural Avalanche North of Cooke City
Incident details include images
Henderson Mountain
SS-N-R2-D1.5
Coordinates: 45.0524, -109.9450
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

From GNFAC: We rode up Daisy Pass road... saw a couple 8-10" deep natural avalanches on the steep slopes above Miller Creek that probably ran in the last 24-48hours. We had multiple collapses on the NE facing slope where we ski toured to dig our second pit.


More Avalanche Details
Cooke City
COOKE CITY
Natural Avalanches near Cooke City
Incident details include images
COOKE CITY
Coordinates: 45.0202, -109.9380
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Skied around Mt. Henderson today. Was finding around 28-35 cm of new snow at 9k'. Perhaps 10cms in town. Light density.  Minor wind effect. Partly cloudy morning, turning mostly cloudy. Cold temps. Calm to light winds where I was, but lots of snow was being transported off the exposed ridgelines south of town. Quite a bit of cracking of the new snow this morning while breaking trail and while skiing, even though the wind effect was still Fist hardness.  A couple of collapses noted as well in the deeper drifts.


More Avalanche Details

Relevant Photos

Displaying 1 - 12
  • We rode up Daisy Pass road... saw a couple 8-10" deep natural avalanches on the steep slopes above Miller Creek that probably ran in the last 24-48hours. We had multiple collapses on the NE facing slope where we ski toured to dig our second pit. Photo: GNFAC

  • Constant red flags on W Henderson. 

  • From obs: "Lots of cracking and collapsing on skin track and ski cuts were reactive on steeper slopes. Dug on NE slope 9640'. HS 110cm ECTN 12 & ECTN 14 40cm down." Photo: R. Youngbar

  • Skied around Mt. Henderson today. Was finding around 28-35 cm of new snow at 9k'. Perhaps 10cms in town. Light density.  Minor wind effect. Partly cloudy morning, turning mostly cloudy. Cold temps. Calm to light winds where I was, but lots of snow was being transported off the exposed ridgelines south of town. Quite a bit of cracking of the new snow this morning while breaking trail and while skiing, even though the wind effect was still Fist hardness.  A couple of collapses noted as well in the deeper drifts. Photo: B. Fredlund

  • Skied around Mt. Henderson today. Was finding around 28-35 cm of new snow at 9k'. Perhaps 10cms in town. Light density.  Minor wind effect. Partly cloudy morning, turning mostly cloudy. Cold temps. Calm to light winds where I was, but lots of snow was being transported off the exposed ridgelines south of town. Quite a bit of cracking of the new snow this morning while breaking trail and while skiing, even though the wind effect was still Fist hardness.  A couple of collapses noted as well in the deeper drifts. Photo: B. Fredlund

  • Bear tracks in the wind-eroded snow. Photo: B Fredlund

  • Avalanches on Henderson Mountain near Cooke City were reported via instagram on 11/9/2023. Estimating they occurred a day earlier. 

    From message: "on Henderson in Cooke just above the lulu trail. It was surprising to see so much activity"

    Photo: A. Mulkey

  • Avalanches on Henderson Mountain near Cooke City were reported via instagram on 11/9/2023. Estimating they occurred a day earlier. 

    From message: "on Henderson in Cooke just above the lulu trail. It was surprising to see so much activity"

    Photo: A. Mulkey

  • From IG: “Pine creek today, some small wind slabs and a full depth wet slide off black mountain”

  • From IG: “Pine creek today (10/21), some small wind slabs and a full depth wet slide off black mountain”

  • From obs. "Was out alpine climbing today and observed the north face of Blackmore had slid already."

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WebCams


Soda Butte Lodge, looking West

Soda Butte Lodge, looking East

Snowpit Profiles- Cooke City Area

 

Select a snowpit on the map to view the profile image

Weather Forecast Cooke City Area

Extended Forecast for

2 Miles NNE Cooke City MT

  • Today

    Today: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 15. Wind chill values as low as -5. West wind 10 to 14 mph.

    Cold

    High: 15 °F

  • Tonight

    Tonight: Snow likely, mainly after 2am.  Mostly cloudy, with a temperature rising to around 15 by 3am. Wind chill values as low as -10. West wind 13 to 20 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of around 3 inches.

    Snow Likely

    Low: 7 °F⇑

  • Sunday

    Sunday: Snow likely.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 21. Wind chill values as low as -5. West southwest wind 16 to 22 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of around 3 inches.

    Snow Likely

    High: 21 °F

  • Sunday
    Night

    Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of snow.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. West southwest wind 10 to 16 mph.  New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

    Chance Snow

    Low: 16 °F

  • Monday

    Monday: Snow likely.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 25. West southwest wind 6 to 8 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

    Snow Likely

    High: 25 °F

  • Monday
    Night

    Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of snow before 11pm.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 11. West wind around 8 mph.  New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

    Chance Snow
    then Partly
    Cloudy

    Low: 11 °F

  • Tuesday

    Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 28. West wind around 8 mph.

    Sunny

    High: 28 °F

  • Tuesday
    Night

    Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 12. West northwest wind around 9 mph.

    Mostly Clear

    Low: 12 °F

  • Wednesday

    Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 33. West southwest wind around 9 mph.

    Sunny

    High: 33 °F

The Last Word

Listen to GNFAC Forecaster Dave Zinn on the Hoary Marmot Podcast for some extracurricular avalanche talk (link to episode).

12 / 8 / 23  <<  
 
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