MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Avalanche warnings are in place in western Montana and for the Cooke City area north of Yellowstone National Park because of heavy snow over the last several days and amid forecasts of more on Friday, plus strong winds and some rain.
In northwestern Montana, the avalanche danger was listed as high in the Whitefish Range, in the Flathead Range including a portion of Glacier National Park and in the Swan Range, the Flathead Avalanche Center said.
“Slabs of new and drifted snow will be thick and easily triggered by the weight of a person or snowmachine,” the warning said. “In isolated areas, avalanches may break in weak layers of old snow near the ground. Travel in avalanche terrain in not recommended.”
In west-central Montana, the avalanche danger was high near Lolo Pass, in the southern Mission mountains along with the Rattlesnake and southern and central Bitterroot mountains, the center said. All elevations will be impacted by heavy snow and increased hazards.
“The likelihood of avalanches will increase with continued wind, snowfall, rising temperatures and rain at lower elevations,” the West Central Montana Avalanche Center said.
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The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center has also issued an avalanche warning for the wind-loaded slopes near Cooke City north of Yellowstone National Park. About 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow has fallen since Thursday morning in the area where two Minnesota snowmobilers died in an avalanche on Dec. 27.
Strong winds created new snow drifts that were 2 to 4 feet (61 to 122 centimeters) deep and wind-loaded slopes were expected to experience avalanches, the Gallatin center said.
“If you get onto any steep slope, even one that isn’t wind-loaded, expect to trigger a slide beneath the new snow,” the warning states. “If you need added incentive to stay out of avalanche terrain, remember that there are weak layers lower in the snowpack that could break even deeper.”
The City of Missoula and its Office of Emergency Management said Thursday officials were “exercising caution” in issuing an urban avalanche warning for Mount Jumbo, closing the mountain to recreation. The closure also applies to private property.
In February 2014, an avalanche that started on Mount Jumbo destroyed a house, burying two residents. One of them died later died of her injuries, while her husband was hospitalized for weeks.
The 2014 slide also buried an 8-year-old boy and partially buried his older sister as they played in the back yard of another residence at the base of Mount Jumbo. The girl was able to dig herself out. The boy, who was found an hour later, survived because he ended up in an air pocket.
The Montana Department of Transportation on Friday reported strong winds and severe driving conditions in the Browning area — east of Glacier National Park — and black ice was reported on roads in extreme northwestern Montana, near the Idaho border.
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