Big snows verifying… Grand Targhee Resort/ Jackson Hole – Southwest Montana – Yellowstone National Park

Friday afternoon, 5pm: Big Sky: Getting snowed on nicely...

Southwest Montana to Yellowstone National Park to Jackson Hole to Grand Targhee...
BIG SNOWS -->...An early season snowstorm is happening and expected to continue for eastern Idaho Mountain areas to southwest Montana, and the Western and Central Wyoming Mountains through Saturday morning....A cold weather system being fed by a moisture laden stream of Pacific moisture will result in moderate to heavy snowfall amounts for the mountains of Western and Central Wyoming through Saturday morning. Grand Targhee is on the lee side of the wind with this system, Snow totals from Yellowstone to Bozeman and to the west (Butte area mountains) are upwards of 1" of precipitation, to 1.9" so far, indicating over 1 and 1/2 foot of snow above mainly 9,500 feet. The peaks are already getting buried... and the fires are "toast"

WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MDT SATURDAY... (https://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?...)

TIMING...Precipiation will continue through Saturday morning with snow levels lowering from 7500 feet to 6000 feet in the Absaroka Mountains and from 9000 feet down to 7000 feet along the East Slope of the Wind River Mountains after midnight tonight. The snowfall will be heavy at times through sunrise Saturday.

Snow Amounts...4 to 8 inches above 8500 feet, 8 to 14 inches
above 10000 feet expected. (we have already verified these totals using SNOTEL stations, as of Friday evening, and its still snowing!)

MAIN IMPACT...Highway 26 along Togwotee Pass and Highway 296 in the Absaroka Mountains along Dead Indian Pass will become slick and snow covered making travel difficult.

OTHER IMPACTS...Hikers and campers should prepare for sharply colder weather along with potentially very significant snow accumulations on hiking trails.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK CLOSURES:
September 15, 2017: Winter weather causes emergency road closure - The road between Tower Junction and Canyon (Dunraven Pass) will close at sunset today. Because of other construction projects, this closure will prohibit north-south travel in the northern part of Yellowstone until roads can be cleared tomorrow. (https://www.nps.gov/...)

Check out our SNOW FORECAST MAPS, also linked to by SNOWEST.com:
http://snowforecast.com/snowmaps/us-snowfall-probability
(Image is current 50% chance, 72 hour forecast)

The Snow Forecast Map above is being verified by snow totals above 1 foot in the 9,500 foot+ range across northwest Wyoming and southwest Montana:

Albro Lake at 8,300 feet and the area around Butte, Bozeman, and south to Yellowstone NP, are all showing some precip totals between up to 1 and even 2" of water... meaning over 1.5 feet of snow in some areas above 9,500 feet...

It is still snowing, and expected to snow into Saturday, with snow levels already dropping to near 5,000 feet in Butte, MT as I type this (6pm PST Friday evening). This is not unusual for the time of year, but it is a nice indication that winter is on its way, and that the fires that have plagued this region are "toast".Tomorrow and beyond: Check out the snowpack maps to verify snowfall:
http://snowforecast.com/snowmaps/us-satellite-snowpack-info (!)

OUTLOOK: ALL NEXT WEEK - The Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains (including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), plus southwest Canada, will see frequent low pressure systems moving through from the Gulf of Alaska with sfc to 500mb atmospheric thickness values from 540 to 546dm, some lower, meaning snow levels between 4,000, and mostly 5,000 to 6,500 feet across the region, and frequent snowfalls at these elevations. More detail is coming.