We’ve had a lot of snow over the past month. Snowstorms have shutdown highways and interstates and slide-offs along the local roads coming into town have been very common. That said, prior to December 12, we had no snow on the ground, which is the first time I can remember not starting December with some kind of snow base. The snow has taken a break this week, though it does need to return. The Yellowstone ecosystem is dependent on the winter snowpack as a source of moisture well into the summer. Without it, fields dry up, grasses die, and fires are a high risk. While the bison above certainly looks miserable, it is well insulated against the blizzard in which I took this photo a few winters back. The ice and snow builds up on it’s coat because it is so well insulated that it’s losing very little heat. The entire herd looked like this and they were hunkered down against the wind that was driving the snow. Winter is certainly a tough time for wildlife in Yellowstone but without the snow, there would be little to eat in the summer.