An extremely strong arctic front moved into Montana in the early morning hours of Saturday December 13, 2008. Blizzard conditions occurred with the frontal passage while the coldest air of the season moved in behind the snowfall.
Every event with a place to put it; 16 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS GGW wrote it up.
An extremely strong arctic front moved into Montana in the early morning hours of Saturday December 13, 2008. Blizzard conditions occurred with the frontal passage while the coldest air of the season moved in behind the snowfall. As the snow tapered off the wind chill temperatures started dropping to below 40 below zero and continued from Sunday December 14th through Monday December 15th. Wind chills on Monday morning ranged from 40 to 55 below zero. The coldest locations was the Lindsay Divide Montana Department of Transportation site at 55 below zero. Area schools either canceled classes on Monday morning, or did not run school buses.
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 13, 9:35 AM MST, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
16 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
The coldest wind chill at Wolf Point was 52 degrees below zero. At Poplar it was 49 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 45 degrees below zero.
The coldest wind chill reading was 51 degrees below zero at King Coulee. In Glasgow, it was 45 degrees below zero. The Glasgow school district did not run school buses on the morning of the 15th due to the extreme cold.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 49 below zero.
The coldest wind chill was 48 degrees below zero.
The coldest wind chill was 48 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 49 degrees below zero at Poplar.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 49 below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 51 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 43 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 53 degrees below zero.
The coldest wind chill recorded in all of northeast Montana during this event was 55 degrees below zero at the Lindsay Divide MDT site.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 42 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 47 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 43 degrees below zero.
The coldest recorded wind chill was 40 degrees below zero.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2008
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 148493, 148481, 148485, 148489, 148488, 148486, 148491, 148498, 148494, 148487, 148499, 148497, 148496, 148483, 148478, 148484.