Park employees have reopened most park roads to travel after they were temporarily closed Monday following a major weekend winter storm. Heavy snow and gusty winds led to deteriorating conditions, which prompted the temporary closure of almost all park roads by early Monday afternoon. Only the road between park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, and the park’s North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, remained open to travel. The road linking Mammoth Hot Springs and the park’s Northeast Entrance at Cooke City, Montana, is normally open to wheeled vehicle traffic all year. Plows began clearing the road of drifts early Tuesday morning, and were able to reopen the road to travel by cars and delivery vehicles by 9 a.m. During the winter season, most interior roads are groomed for guided oversnow travel by snowmobiles and snowcoaches. Shortly after first light Tuesday, park crews began assessing road segments and began working to reopen interior roads for oversnow travel and were able to open the route between West Yellowstone and Old Faithful by 9:30 a.m. All other oversnow routes are now open except for the section between Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris, and Madison Junction, and the park’s East Entrance road over Sylvan Pass. Visitors can call the park’s 24-hour road condition report at 307-344-2117 for up-to-date road and travel information. The National Weather Service yesterday issued a snow advisory for the park that remains in effect through noon today. This storm is forecast to dump 3 to 6 inches of new snow on the northern half of the park and up to 10 inches of new snow in the southern portion of Yellowstone. Strong, gusty winds are expected to accompany this storm, which will cause blowing and drifting snow and reduced visibility. Meteorologists are keeping an eye on yet another storm system which could bring significant additional snowfall and gusty winds to the area by the weekend.
