Webcams

 
 

Nine webcams—one live-streaming and eight static—provide views of the current conditions around the North Entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs, Mount Washburn, the West Entrance, and the Upper Geyser Basin. Unfamiliar with the park? Check on the location map to see where each webcam is located.

 

Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin Live-stream Webcam

 
 

Thanks to volunteers, this webcam provides a streaming view of Old Faithful Geyser and other happenings around the Upper Geyser Basin—one of the most unique and dynamic places on earth with about 500 active geysers. This live view is made possible by Canon USA, Inc. through a generous grant to Yellowstone Forever.

 
Old Faithful Loading…
Castle Loading…
Grand Loading…
Daisy Loading…
Riverside Loading…
Great Fountain Loading…

Notes on Predictions:

- Predictions are not available when the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center is closed, typically early November through mid-December and mid-March through mid-April.

- The last prediction made will remain up until a new prediction is available.

 
Panoramic image from the top of the Old Faithful Inn showing the Upper Geyser Basin steaming below.
Guide for identifying features seen on the live-stream webcam.

NPS

 
A deep, blue and green hot spring.
Hydrothermal Features

Learn about hot springs, geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles.

Silhouette of a geyser erupting and the underlying plumbing system.
Predict Old Faithful

Calculate your own prediction for Old Faithful's next eruption.

A dark blue hot spring with a white crested edge rimmed by orange water
Life in Extreme Heat

Hydrothermal features are habitats for microscopic organisms called thermophiles: "thermo" for heat, "phile" for lover.

 

Static Webcams

View current conditions at various locations around the park. Images from these webcams refresh roughly every 30 seconds.
 

North Entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs

 
Webcam

North Entrance - Roosevelt Arch

This webcam is on the park's North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana. It shows current conditions at the entrance with Roosevelt Arch in the background.

The arch became known as Roosevelt Arch after President Theodore Roosevelt, who was vacationing in the park, spoke at the ceremony to lay the cornerstone in 1903. The arch is inscribed with a phrase from the legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park: "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people."

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Webcam

North Entrance - Electric Peak

Morning views from this webcam are spectacular, especially during the winter when the morning sun touches Electric Peak.

Look for wildlife—elk, bison, and pronghorn can be seen grazing here. Occasionally you may see the top of oversize vehicles—RVs, tour buses, and delivery trucks—as they stop at the entrance station.

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Webcam

Mammoth Hot Springs - Travertine Terraces and Parade Ground

Yellowstone is a place of change, and this view highlights a place where change is constant and evident—the travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. Terraces form when water rises through limestone, which then allows the water to carry high amounts of dissolved calcium carbonate. At the surface, carbon dioxide is released and the calcium carbonate is deposited, forming travertine, the chalky white rock of the terraces. In the foreground are the parade grounds for historic Fort Yellowstone—the focal point of daily life at the fort.

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Mount Washburn

 
Webcam

Mount Washburn - Northeastern View

At 10,219 feet, Mount Washburn towers above Dunraven Pass between Tower Junction and Canyon Village. A fire lookout stationed at the summit provides a popular destination for day hikers, as well as housing for an employee who watches for and tracks fires throughout the summer. This webcam is located inside the living quarters on the top floor and looks out to the northeast.

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Webcam

Mount Washburn - Southern View

This webcam atop Mount Washburn captures a south-facing view of the north-central part of the park. During summer, the webcam is often re-positioned by the fire lookout, and smoke from wildfires burning in the park may be visible.

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West Entrance

 
Webcam

West Entrance - Current Conditions at Gate

This webcam is on the West Entrance to the park at West Yellowstone, Montana. It shows current conditions at the entrance gate.

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Webcam

West Entrance - Heading into the Park

This webcam is on the West Entrance to the park at West Yellowstone, Montana. It shows current conditions leading into the park.

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Upper Geyser Basin

 
 
Webcam

Old Faithful Geyser

Old Faithful, named by members of the 1870 Washburn Expedition, was once called “Eternity’s Timepiece” because of the regularity of its eruptions. Despite the myth, this geyser has never erupted at exact hourly intervals, nor is it the largest or most regular geyser in Yellowstone. It does, however, erupt more frequently than any other of the large geysers.

This view of the Old Faithful Geyser is captured from a webcam inside the visitor education center. At this location, time is not measured by a clock, but by this geyser. Visitors make decisions on when to eat, take a tour, interact with exhibits, or watch the visitor center film based on Old Faithful's next eruption.

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Yellowstone Lake

 
Webcam

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory's Webcam at Yellowstone Lake

The camera view is south-southeast over Yellowstone Lake from the cell phone tower near Fishing Bridge. Stevenson Island is visible within the lake on the right. The view extends down the Southeast Arm between the Promontory (low ridge rising from the lake) and the eastern shore. Above the shore, the acid-bleached Brimstone Basin remains white even when the snows have melted. The Absaroka Mountains in the background are composed of approximately 50-million-year old volcanic rocks that long precede the current volcanic activity at Yellowstone, which started about 2.2 million years ago.

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Webcam Locations

Explore the map to discover the location of all the park's webcams, and learn a little bit more about the cameras.

 
 

Webcam Questions and Answers

Live-stream Webcam

The live-stream webcam is attached to the northeast flagpole on the top of the Old Faithful Inn.
Our bandwidth capacity on the available T1 line restricts the resolution we can stream.
The webcam has been set to operate in color mode as long as possible, even into low light conditions. When there is still enough light in the camera's view, even at night, it will continue operating in color view. When the light drops too low, then the infrared cutoff filter automatically engages and the camera switches to black and white night mode.
There are a couple possibilities here. On many winter days the steam from the geysers is held near the surface causing a foggy condition that can block the view of the camera completely at times. Sometimes there is a snow storm that makes everything white or grey.
Park staff and volunteers control the camera.

Static Webcams

This occurs when the park loses FTP Internet access to upload a picture to our server. Sometime it's a webcam issue when it loses power from a power outage. Try clearing your browser's cache and press the reload (refresh) button. If that does not work, please come back to visit later. Please know that when this incident happens or any webcam goes down, we work quickly to resolve the issue.
Your browser didn't update the photo because it was not the active window. When you first come back to a webcam after being away, press the reload (refresh) button to see the latest image. That will get the ball rolling once again.
If you are getting a gray or black rectangle instead of a picture it could mean that you are not visiting during daylight hours. There are no artificial lights in front of the webcams.

Live-stream Webcam Recordings

Head over to the Webcam Videos page to watch some geyser eruptions or wildlife sightings that were recorded by our live-stream webcam volunteers.

Last updated: January 23, 2024

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Contact Info

Mailing Address:

PO Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190-0168

Phone:

307-344-7381

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