Final Snowpack Update - May, 2025
Well, friends, this is it. Welcome to the final Snowpack update of the 2024-25 snow year. While we’d love to start throwing around phrases like “above average” and “my snowpack was a 4.0 GPA at West Yellowstone high school”, things just didn’t work out that way for us this year. Since our last report, and especially over the last two weeks, our region has seen temperatures well above average, resulting in an early timing of the peak snow water equivalent and a relatively rapid decline in available snowpack.
I’ll just rip off the Band-Aid and give you the numbers:
Madison: 74% of median, and 57% of median peak. Peak occurred approximately 11 days early this year.
Upper Henry’s Fork: 51% of median, 35% of median peak. Peak occurred “on time” this year.
Gallatin: 85% of median, 61% of median peak. Peak occurred “on time” this year.
Yellowstone Headwaters: 77% of median, 64% of median peak. Peak occurred later than normal by 1 week this year.
OK, ok, ok, this seems bad, right? Well, it’s not perfect, but it’s not as bad as you might think. When compared with last year, which is easiest to remember for old guys like me, most of our local watersheds are sitting about the same as in 2024! Check out the watershed specific graphs and you will see what I’m talking about by comparing the black line to the orange line.
There is some other good news too. The upcoming week of weather is very cool and fairly wet. While this won’t necessarily affect the snowpack amount (it might exacerbate melting, in fact), we have learned to never complain about moisture. Even if it soaks into the ground, it’s going to do some good. The cool weather should also slow the progression of hatch activity, especially on the Fork which has seen some earlier-than-usual bug happenings this year.
With that said, I’d like to thank everyone who has been following along with the snowpack maps and reports this year. Of course, none of this would be available to us without the USDA and the NRCS, the federal agencies that oversee the Snotel and other water data collection and distribution systems. It is now officially Fishing Report Season, and the YNP fishing opener is less than 10 days away! Hopefully we’ll see you in the shop and on the water.
Take Care,
Matt and the BSA Crew
