All the roads in Yellowstone National Park south of Mammoth Hot Springs remained closed Monday due to "multiple weather-related traffic incidents,” park officials report.
The skeleton staff still working during the government shutdown report they’ve been busy responding to "more than 30" incidents involving stalled, slipped, or damaged vehicles.
The roads have been closed since 5 p.m. Sunday
The East, South, and West entrances of Yellowstone aren't scheduled to close until Friday, but most of the park was still off limits to all vehicles Monday morning. Winter weather and bad driving might bring an unseasonably early end to the 2025 summer season.
"At this time of year, anything can happen in Yellowstone," said Julie Argyle, the postmaster at Lake Village on the edge of Yellowstone Lake. "You have to be prepared for anything.
"The weather can turn on a dime in any month, but it's worse at this point in time."
A Different World
According to a statement released by the Yellowstone Public Affairs office, staff are responding to "more than 30 motor vehicle accidents, stranded vehicles, and slide-offs across various areas of the park."
All of these incidents happened Sunday.
Most of Wyoming might be enjoying a mild winter, but many people don't realize how different conditions can be in Yellowstone. Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said traveling to Yellowstone is like "going to a different road."
"The whole park is on an elevated plateau," he said. "Even the 'lower parts' of the park, like Lake Yellowstone, are still at a high altitude. That elevated plateau makes Yellowstone a 'high island' that creates its own weather, in a sense."
A winter weather system moved into northwest Wyoming on Sunday, and Day said it had the perfect combination of factors to make the paved roads in the park's interior particularly hazardous.
"The specific front from the Pacific Ocean was well-suited to bring winter weather to Yellowstone," he said. "It had a lot of moisture, and the upper-level wind pattern was just right to focus in on the park, especially as you got up into the higher elevations."
Day thinks the culprit behind most, if not all, of the Sunday incidents was the familiar foe that imperils all drivers in winter: black ice.
"We're at the time of year where the days are getting so much shorter," he said. "With wet pavement and a lower sun angle, the roads can get icy quickly, and a fair number of people in the park probably aren't used to winter driving conditions in this part of the country."
Day added that unlike most roads in Wyoming, large sections of Yellowstone's roads are shaded by forests on either side. Even on a sunny day, black ice can still form in a shady spot on the road if it gets cold or windy enough to freeze any moisture.
"By 3 p.m., that sun angle is already low enough that the pavement may have already cooled off," he said. "What was wet an hour ago is now black ice, and that low sun angle plays a huge role in that."
Who's Working?
Argyle wasn't in Yellowstone on Sunday. She took her fifth-wheel to Utah before the park got buried too deep in the first snowfall of the season.
Responding to 30 vehicle crashes and incidents in one day would be an exhaustive effort under normal circumstances. However, Yellowstone is still partially paralyzed by the ongoing federal shutdown, which Argyle said is only further straining staff and resources.
"I don't know how many workers are actually in the park working," she said. "We had a pretty significant snowstorm around Oct. 12, and it took them longer than normal to clear the roads because of the people who weren't there."
To Argyle's knowledge, the only staff working, even in a partial capacity, are Yellowstone's law enforcement rangers. They've been tasked with everything from their usual duties to supervising bear jams since the government shut down on Sept. 30.
The National Park Service has its own snowplow crews to keep the roads clear of snow and ice. Argyle wasn't sure whether they were prepared for Sunday's snowstorm or even working because of the shutdown.
"Not even the rangers were at full staff," she said. "I don't know how many people on the road crews are working."
Winter's Wake-up Call
As of Monday morning, the only way to enter Yellowstone was the Northeast Entrance outside Cooke City, Montana. Even the North Entrance between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, Montana, was temporarily closed due to "hazardous weather conditions."
The Old Faithful webcam Monday showed the Upper Geyser Basin covered in snow and deserted with no people. A strange sight, given that Old Faithful is the most popular and populated place in Yellowstone by a significant margin.
Day said this past weekend should be "a wake-up call" for Wyoming.
Yellowstone will be closed for the season by Friday anyway, but similar weather systems will bring similar conditions to the rest of the state before too long.
"The first larger winter event of the season is just a wake-up call for a lot of people," Day said. "We have to remember how to drive in this, maybe not go so fast, and assume that if a road might look wet, it might be ice. Little things like that to make a big difference."
Day anticipates more wintry conditions in Yellowstone through Tuesday, followed by three days of clearer skies but colder temperatures.
Anyone planning a last-minute Yellowstone visit shouldn't encounter more snow, but there could still be black ice lurking on the shady sections of the Grand Loop Road.
Argyle's advice is for Yellowstone visitors to prepare themselves and their vehicles. With no cellphone service and an abundance of accidents, anyone stuck on or alongside a road could be there for a while.
"Have blankets, food, water, and anything you might need on hand in your car, because you might get stuck somewhere," she said. "At this time of year, you never know what you'll encounter."
Meanwhile, Wyomingites should take note of what happened in Yellowstone this weekend. The same scenario will be playing out across Wyoming sooner than later.
"You always get a lot of accidents during the first big winter events," Day said. "Then people remember that it's winter. It's shorter days, colder temperatures, and less sunlight from here on."
Contact Andrew Rossi at andrew@cowboystatedaily.com
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
