A warm southwest flow created unstable snow conditions at the higher elevations and some freezing drizzle in the valleys.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 MSO wrote it up.
A warm southwest flow created unstable snow conditions at the higher elevations and some freezing drizzle in the valleys.
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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 6, 3:35 AM MST, 8 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 335 AM MST FRI JAN 6 2012 .DISCUSSION...SNOW BANDS CONTINUE TO MOVE OVER PORTION OF WESTERN MONTANA THIS MORNING HOWEVER THEY ARE WEAKENING. SINCE THE BANDS ARE NOT STATIONARY THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CAUSE MUCH SNOW IN ANY ONE LOCATION BUT HIGHWAY 93 FROM HAMILTON TO MISSOULA WILL LIKELY HAVE SOME SLICK SPOTS ON IT FROM THE SNOW. THE SNOW SHOWERS WILL COME TO AN END THIS MORNING AS PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES TAKE OVER. HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE COOLER THAN YESTERDAY WITH MOST VALLEY LOCATIONS BARELY BREAKING THE FREEZING MARK. ON SATURDAY A PASSING TROUGH APPEARS TO SEND MOST OF ITS DYNAMICS TO THE WEST AND SOUTH OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES LEAVING CENTRAL IDAHO AND WESTERN MONTANA MAINLY DRY. A SURGE OF MOISTURE ON SUNDAY WILL NOT BE ACCOMPANIED BY ANY FORCING BUT THERE WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IF THE NAM SOLUTION VERIFIES. THIS WILL BE MAINLY DUE TO THE ATMOSPHERE BEING SATURATED IN THE LOWER LEVELS. TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE WEEKEND WILL REMAIN RIGHT AROUND SEASONAL AVERAGES FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD TO THE WEST FROM CALIFORNIA TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS WILL PUSH MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION OVER NORTHWEST MONTANA. BY MONDAY NIGHT A PACIFIC TROUGH MOVES INTO THE REGION WITH AN INCREASED CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION. COLDER AIR WILL SETTLE IN BEHIND A COLD FRONT ON TUESDAY WHICH WILL ALLOW SNOW LEVELS TO DROP TO MOST VALLEY FLOORS AS THE PRECIPITATION ARRIVES. && .AVIATION...LIGHT SNOW BANDS ARE CONTINUING EARLY THIS MORNING...BUT ARE WEAKENING AND SHIFTING TO THE EAST. EXPECT ANY SNOWFALL TO END BY 18Z ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA WITH THE SKIES BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY DURING THE AFTERNOON. && .MSO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MT...NONE. ID...NONE. && SHORT TERM...LOEFFELBEIN LONG TERM....KOLATA AVIATION...KOLATA
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A snowmobiler triggered an avalanche 6 miles southeast of Philipsburg. One fatality.
Several small auto accidents occurred shortly after 7 am due to light freezing rain. A charter bus rolled and ejected passengers around 7:16 am on I-90 east of Missoula. I-90 was closed in both directions due to the accident. There were 2 deaths confirmed and 31 injuries.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Butte / Blackfoot Region | 2012-01-06 | 20 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
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, January 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 359763, 391781.