Avalanche in Montana, February 19, 2001

Name: Avalanche in Montana, February 19, 2001
Start: 2001-02-19T16:00
End: 2001-02-19T16:00
Location: Montana

February 19, 2001 · NWS TFX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 avalanche, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 19, 3:00 PM MST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 19, 3:00 PM MST, 1 hour before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MST MON FEB 19 2001

.TUE AND WED...

SOUTHWARD PROGRESS OF SHALLOW COLD AIR MASS HAS BEEN STYMIED BY THE
MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF GTF. WOULD NOT EXPECT THIS TO CHANGE OVERNIGHT.
LOW CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE AIR MASS EXPECTED TO PERSIST AS
WELL...EXCEPT OVER NE ZONES. WEAK NEGATIVE TILT UPPER RIDGE LURKING
WEST OF MONTANA...WILL PROPAGATE NORTHEAST INTO THE CWA BY TUESDAY
NIGHT.  UPPER LOW NEAR 40N 130W TO DISSIPATE RAPIDLY OVER NEXT 36
HOURS...AND HENCE THE RIDGE WEAKENS AS WELL. AVN HAS A SMALL BUT
VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH SOUTHERN IDAHO AND INTO NORTHERN
WYOMING TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. ETA NOT AS IMPRESSIVE WITH
FEATURE...ALTHOUGH MESO-ETA DOES PICK UP ON IT. WHETHER FEATURE
DEVELOPS OR NOT...MOIST WESTERLY FLOW SURE TO GIVE SOUTHWEST
MOUNTAINS MORE SNOW...WITH SCATTERED LIGHT SNOW FOR THE EXTREME
SOUTHWEST VALLEYS. FAIRLY STRONG SW WINDS DEVELOPING ALONG THE EAST
SLOPES BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY...FOR GOOD WARMING NORTHERN HALF OF CWA.
ANOTHER PUSH FROM THE NORTH ON THE WAY LATE IN THE DAY KEEPS
TEMPERATURES DOWN IN THE NORTHEAST ZONES. POMEROY

.THU...FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...MRF SHOWING SOME RUN TO RUN DISCREPANCIES WITH
DEVELOPMENT OF CUT OFF LOW OFF CA COAST. PREVIOUS RUN SHOWED STRONGER
LOW IN SOUTHERN BRANCH WITH RELATIVELY WEAK NORTHERN BRANCH. LATEST
RUN HAS WEAKENED CUT OFF LOW SLIGHTLY AND PUT MORE ENERGY IN NORTHERN
BRANCH WHICH IS THEN STEERED ACROSS MT...ESPECIALLY SAT...SUN AND
MON. COMPARING MRF TO ECMWF AND UKMET...THERE ARE SOME SLIGHT TIMING
DIFFERENCES MOVING DISTURBANCES THROUGH CWA...HOWEVER OTHER MODELS
ALSO SHOWING STRONGER ENERGY IN NORTHERN BRANCH. THUS...WILL MENTION
ISOLATED POPS AND GENERALLY MILD TEMPS EARLY IN PERIOD INCREASING TO
CHANCE POPS WITH SLIGHT COOLING OVER WEEKEND.

CCF NUMBERS
GTF BB 009/026 015/041 024 191000
CTB BB 004/026 015/038 022 191000
HLN UB 010/028 012/034 015 190011
BZN BE 010/032 013/035 015 190232
WEY EJ 006/030 012/030 012 191365
DLN BE 017/035 020/035 017 190233
HVR UB 901/020 002/029 008 191001
LWT BB 004/025 013/037 019 191001

Event by event

1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.

Avalanche, Gallatin

When: February 19, 4:00 PM MST
Where: Gallatin forecast zone
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: PARK/FOREST SERVICE

Avalanche injury reported near West Yellowstone (time of injury report estimated).

What these are

Avalanche: A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Montana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, February 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5231998.