Dry January has commenced over here in northwest Montana as a high-pressure weather system seems to have shut off all precipitation for the foreseeable future starting tomorrow, with highs in the 40s this week in Kalispell. According to the National Weather Service, valley inversions are expected this week with a “prolonged period of stagnant conditions,” which means it’s time to bust out the shades for rare winter sun exposure in the Northern Rockies.
Despite the stagnant weather forecast, there has been a slew of activity outside of Whitefish Mountain Resort (WMR), where four human-triggered avalanches have occurred in recent days after a storm last week dropped a few feet of snow on top of a weak layer in the snowpack, according to the Flathead Avalanche Center (FAC).
Avalanche forecasters say it’s been tricky to identify which areas are the most suspicious as the persistent slab responsible for these slides lurks underneath the snow. FAC forecaster Josh Lipkowitz warns against traveling on steep, open or sparsely treed slopes above 5,000 feet. While there were no reports of anybody getting caught, buried or injured in the slides over the weekend, these stories serve as a cautionary tale.
“The problem is this type of avalanche is really spatially variable and it’s really hard to assess for this problem,” Lipkowitz said in a video over the weekend. “Moving forward to next week, the sun’s going to come out, the stoke’s gonna be high, but it’s a good time for caution.”
As Dry January takes over the skies, it’s also taking over the bars and breweries as the annual sobriety trend leads health-conscious patrons on a path of wellness at the start of 2026.
I learned last year at a manufacturing symposium that Montana craft breweries were seeing lower sales in response to shifting drinking trends, and it’s apparent that Dry January is more popular than ever before as younger generations temper their drinking or quit alcohol intake altogether.
Dry January participants also tend to be female, have higher incomes and levels of education, and they report engaging in heavy drinking “as a baseline,” according to the National Library of Medicine.
According to a recent Gallup survey, which has been tracking drinking behavior since 1939, the percentage of U.S. adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to a record low of 54%. Only 50% of people age 18 to 34 drink, less than the 56% of people age 35 and over who consume alcohol, according to survey results.
“Dry January is a tough time for restaurants,” Montana Brewers Association Executive Director Matt Leow said last month. “People pull back after the holidays and don’t spend as much and then you add Dry January — it has been a tough time in the craft brewery world.”
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