A potent storm system with plentiful moisture and just enough cold air from Canada moved over portions of central Montana and allowed snowfall to accumulate in the higher elevations.
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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.
A potent storm system with plentiful moisture and just enough cold air from Canada moved over portions of central Montana and allowed snowfall to accumulate in the higher elevations.
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 Apr 27, 7:53 PM MST, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Public and co-operative reports confirmed that 6 inches of snow had already accumulated at Zortman by 10:00 AM MST with likely greater amounts in higher elevations, such as above the Zortman mine.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2012
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 376256.