Gallatin / Madison

**Gallatin/Madison Tier A - True Morel Prime Window** You're looking at a genuine morel flush window right now—soil temps have held above 48°F for five consecutive days and moisture is locked in at 0.20 VWC. The accelerating snowmelt is working in your favor, keeping the soil consistently damp without waterlogging. True morels are your A-tier target; conditions are textbook. Spring King Boletes and false morels will pop in scattered pockets at higher elevations where soil temps are creeping toward their minimums, but they'll be secondary. The limiting factor is desiccation risk once you move away from snow-influenced zones—anything above 8,500 ft on south aspects will start drying fast as melt accelerates over the next 48 hours. The morel window closes quickly in this elevation band once soil temps consistently exceed 55°F or precipitation drops below 0.15" weekly. Watch for the shift. **Hot tip:** Hunt the transition zone between 7,500–8,200 ft on north-facing slopes where snowmelt seepage keeps soil moisture high but temps are just warm enough—morel density spikes there before it dries out upslope.

Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.