West Yellowstone is a town in Gallatin County, Montana, adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. The town is served by Yellowstone Airport. It is part of the Bozeman, MT Micropolitan Statistical Area. It was founded in June 1908 when the Oregon Short Line Railroad was completed. The town’s name changed several times until West Yellowstone was settled upon in 1920.
For many, the town of West Yellowstone is a place to stay while traveling through Yellowstone National Park. The town is separated into two parts, residential and commercial, roughly at the road D Parkway. South of D Parkway (Alley) is mainly a business area; north of it is an area of homes and apartments. The area north of D Parkway is known to locals as the „Madison Addition“. The town has one school, serving kindergarten through 12th grade.
At almost 7,000 feet above sea level and almost exactly halfway between the equator and the North Pole, West Yellowstone experiences a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc), with cold — sometimes bitterly cold — winters and brief but generally warm summers. During the summer, the average low is 41 °F (5 °C), and the average high is 78 °F (26 °C). During the winter, the average low is 1 °F (−17 °C), and the average high is 24 °F (−4 °C). West Yellowstone holds the record low of any community in the lower 48 states at −66 °F (−54 °C), although Rogers Pass, Montana is colder, at −70 °F (−57 °C). However, the town’s December record low of −59 °F (−51 °C) is the monthly record low for the lower 48 states.