Canarystone Under Pressure

Yellowstone Lower Falls, Yellowstone Grand Canyon.

Climate at Yellowstone can be classified as BSk under Koppen's system. B is the major climate group, a dry climate. When evaporation exceeds precipitation results in a dry climate. K stands for midlatitude with a steppe. This is the same climate at Denver, CO. Yet they are quite vast in weather, the topography places a key role in the weather at Yellowstone. For a detailed chart of the climate and average precipitation click here.

Climate of Yellowstone over 30 years

The video below describes a unique process at Yellowstone. The geothermal heat underneath the park actually makes the winters much harsher.

The nights in Yellowstone can get brutal for the wild animals living in the caldera. The daytime valley breeze effect happens during the day when the warm land carries into the high altitudes of Yellowstone and during the nighttime the mountain diurnal flows bring the cold air to the valley of the caldera. Many time this process creates valley fog. Add this with the geothermal, hot springs in the caldera and you get heavy snow, fog, and vast cloud formations. Radiation fog can be found all around Yellowstone in the early morning and late evening. 

Causes by the cool air coming down from the mountains with the warm earth above the geothermal soils. As well as Yellowstone Lake has evaporation fog as the bottom of the lake has a direct hole to intense temperatures of the hot springs underneath. Stratus nebulosus clouds form in stable air mass conditions.

Sources:

• http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?wy990

• BBC's "Yellowstone Battle for Life"

• http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=riw&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no