On December 10, the National Park Service (NPS) updated its website for Yellowstone National Park, warning that "the accumulation of snowfall on roads varies across the park."
While Yellowstone recently had plenty to celebrate as the government lost in the national parks' conservation efforts against an "illegal" threat, the NPS's warning about snowfall in the park is a worrying status update on varying snow depths.
With little snow, Yellowstone's winter opening is minimal, restricting snowmobile and snowcoach access, prompting tour cancellations, and pushing visitors to dry-land activities like biking and roller-skiing until winter conditions return.
Where do Yellowstone visitors go, and when can enough snow be expected in Yellowstone National Park for all the winter activities?
Yellowstone National Park Faces Cancellations As NPS Warning Comes True Due To Bizarre Phenomenon
December 15 marked the start of Yellowstone's official winter season, when the park closes most roadways to automobiles and opens them exclusively to guided snowmobile and snowcoach travel. Till a week back, however, snowmobiles and most tracked snow coaches could not enter Yellowstone National Park for the lack of snowfall (wheeled snow coaches could).
Still, most businesses weren't apprehensive. Local business owners felt it was "Not as much as usual, but we'll have enough," according to Quewane Chisholm of Forever West in West Yellowstone. The first big weekend of winter in Yellowstone National Park, things did not go as planned.
Heading into Christmas, snowmobile tours to Old Faithful were canceled for lack of snow, even as Bozeman saw mid-60s temperatures just 90 miles north. The town's dining and other tourism-focused establishments were dark, and the vibe wasn't very happy.
In Pinedale, just south of Yellowstone, veteran rider Gary Neely said this wasn't the first slow winter he's seen in his 40 years, and that in the last 10-15 years, the winters have been warmer.
"In 1981, Fremont Lake here did not freeze," Neely said. "And we didn't have snow in town. And the winter of 1980, we didn't see snow until New Year's Day."
Simply put, without more snow, Yellowstone could see widespread cancellations of snow tours and other winter activities in 2025
Where Can Yellowstone Visitors Go Instead?
Most of Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park is dry, but Cooke City, Montana, a small, historic mountain town right next to Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance, is sitting on plenty of early snow. "It'll be like a magnet, you know, they'll come in there," Neely said about Cooke City.
Detailed Weather Forecast for Christmas in Cooke City, Montana
Christmas Day
Rain and snow showers, becoming all snow after 8am. High near 40. Southwest wind 13 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Christmas Night (Thursday)
Snow showers likely, mainly after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. Southwest wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of around 2 inches.
Friday
Snow showers. High near 36. Southwest wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of around 3 inches.
Friday Night
A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. Southwest wind around 16 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. New snow accumulation of around 2 inches.
"I already had five people canceled because they were afraid to come up," Curtis Ewers at the Soda Butte Lodge said, motioning to the weather outside where the wind howled and snow blew sideways. As the wind shaped new snowdrifts, temperatures dropped drastically Friday from Mammoth, Wyoming, fifty miles west of Cooke City, with snow depths rising along the way.
"Bizarre Phenomenon" In Yellowstone During Late 2025
Scientists have confirmed that the Greater Yellowstone Area is warming, leading to less snow overall and shifts from snow to rain, which are impacting water resources and ecosystems.
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"The trend towards a warmer, drier climate described in this study will likely affect ecosystems in the region and the communities that depend on them," Steve Hostetler, a USGS scientist, said about the Greater Yellowstone area.
The Bizarre Aspect
A mix of climate change's long-term effects of warmer, drier winters with less snow, and short-term variability, where early winter saw low snow but later forecasts predicted more, has created operational challenges for winter tourism.
The "bizarre" aspect is that, while long-term trends point to less snow, some recent winters (like early 2025) saw more snow, making the lack of snow in late 2025 feel unusual.