See Latest Eruption at Yellowstone’s Black Diamond Pool

Tourists who wonder why Yellowstone National Park still has the trail to Biscuit Basin closed at the end of 2025 got an explosive reminder of the danger in an image caught on the U.S. Geological Survey webcam over the weekend.

Saturday morning, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory's new webcam, which was just installed last summer, caught this image of the Black Diamond pool going "kablooey" at Saturday morning, just after 9 am. The "dirty eruption, shared on the USGS Facebook page, is a smaller version of what happened when Black Diamond had a major eruption in July 2024.

That blast wrecked the boardwalk and threw rocks and mud several hundred feet into the air.

USGS says Saturday's eruption was about 30 to 40 feet in height and was an example of the kind of "dirty eruptions" that show the feature is still very active.

Libby gets flooding help

Although the recent flooding likely left tens of millions of dollars in damage to bridges, roads, and other infrastructure, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will initially provide up to $5-million in emergency aid. And that includes not only Lincoln County, but Sanders County and the Blackfeet Nation as well.

President Trump approved Governor Gianforte's disaster declaration and request for funding help on Friday. But the governor says that initial money is just for emergency response measures. The state's Montana Disaster and Emergency Services group will be working with local governments to assess more long-term damage that could be included in a latter major disaster declaration, which could free up more money.

     💵 The state will still incur some costs. That initial federal funding is only a 75% match.

Libby water clear of contamination

Libby officials got more good news Friday, with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality confirming there were no heavy metal contamination in the city's water supply after the flooding. The town had been worried about that, especially given Libby's unfortunate history with mine waste.

Officials are still advising Libby residents to keep boiling water because of the continued turbidity in the water, which raises the risk of bacteria and parasites in drinking water.

Montana travel tricky for Christmas travel

Outside of the slick roads, with a mix of snow showers and freezing rain this week, your Christmas travel outlook across Montana looks pretty reasonable.

National Weather Service forecasters were warning of potentially slick conditions across Western, North Central, and Northeast Montana, as well as the Gallatin and Livingston areas. But generally, there are no major storms in the forecast through Christmas weekend.

However, Meteorologist Jenn Kitsmiller in Missoula says snow levels will continue to fluctuate through the week, and that could bring more snow to the mountain passes.

"There is going to be a trend where the snow levels generally start to increase, especially as we get into Tuesday, Wednesday time frame," Kittsmiller explains. "But then it looks like they will come back down, Thursday into Friday, where we're going to see periodic periods of snow on our mountain passes. And in the valleys, it's going to just be a wintry mix of snow and rain showers."

     🌧️ And things could change for New Year's, with another atmospheric river setting up that could bring milder temperatures and rain.

Call for more Nashville flights from Bozeman

Speaking of travel, the rush is on to get air tickets to travel to Nashville for the FCS Championship on January 5th.

Senator Daines and the rest of the Montana Congressional delegation had already sent a letter even before Saturday's game, encouraging Delta, American, Southwest, and United Airlines to increase flight options for fans making the trip.

American Airlines starts year-round Chicago service from Missoula

American Airlines kicked off its new direct flights from Missoula to Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Thursday. The year-round service was first announced last summer and expands the seasonal connections offered in recent years. The Missoula Tourism Business Improvement District, Missoula Economic Partnership, Department of Commerce and Western Montana's Glacier Country helped support the guaranteed offering.

Also last week, American announced Bozeman and Glacier International will be getting new daily flights to Phoenix next summer, as part of an expansion of 15 new routes.