A moist westerly flow aloft brought periods of snow to portions of Central MT and multiple highlights were in effect for different portions of the region.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 TFX wrote it up.
A moist westerly flow aloft brought periods of snow to portions of Central MT and multiple highlights were in effect for different portions of the region.
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 Mar 1, 10:45 PM MST, 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 1045 PM MST Sat Mar 1 2014 .UPDATE... Next round of Pacific moisture continues to spread east into western MT and though dynamics are weak, very light snow has developed over western portions of north central MT as a result of the moist flow overrunning the cold airmass in place over the region. Expect this trend to continue through tonight with periods of light snow or flurries spreading east across most of the forecast area by Sunday morning with accumulations generally less than an inch. No additional updates planned to temperatures as cloud-cover has slowed temperature falls that occurred earlier this evening. Hoenisch && .AVIATION... UPDATED 0545Z. Arctic airmass remains over Montana tonight through late Sunday evening. Pacific moisture moving over the cold airmass will bring widespread clouds with areas of fog, snow and/or low clouds persisting for IFR/MVFR conditions at times. Mountain obscurations are expected through the entire forecast period. Precipitation becomes widespread across much of the region after 12Z Sunday for prevailing MVFR conditions with some improvement in the southwest after 18Z. mpj && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 634 PM MST Sat Mar 1 2014/ FXUS65 KTFX 020134 AFDTFX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 634 PM MST Sat Mar 1 2014 UPDATE... Winter weather highlights for snow were allowed to expire at 6pm with the wind chill warning for north central MT continuing through Sunday morning. Snow has ended or diminished to very light flurries across the region with a brief break in the moist west flow aloft bringing a period of generally dry conditions through this evening before the next batch of Pacific moisture moves east into the area later tonight. Satellite imagery shows a break in the cloud-cover over eastern and southern portions of north central MT this evening with clouds in advance of the next system already filling in to the west of this area. Cloud-cover will play a major role in minimum temperatures tonight and have adjusted clouds and temps in a swath from near Rogers Pass east to Lewistown where temps are falling rapidly in response to the clear skies. Hoenisch .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 440 PM MST Sat Mar 1 2014/ This Afternoon through Monday Evening...Latest analysis shows light snow tapering off over central MT, but continuing over southwest MT as upper-level trof pushes through the southern half of the state. Some partial clearing also seen on visible satellite imagery pushing through Great Falls and neighboring areas to the northwest, but fairly thick haze layer produced by the strong temperature inversion in the low levels should limit any decent warm-up over remainder of the aftn. Current warnings and advisories are still in effect but good chance the winter storm/winter weather portions should end this evening, but still expecting dangerously cold wind chills over the central and Hiline counties overnight. Region will see a brief break from the snow tonight but next system and accompanying moisture is due to arrive east of the Divide tomorrow morning, bringing another round of light snow through the day. Westerly, Chinook-type flow aloft starts to set up on Sun which should help erode the shallow cold airmass a bit, allowing high temps to climb a few degrees above zero from Great Falls/Lewistown northward and teens/20s over southwest MT. Models continue to show decent warm-up on Mon as westerly flow strengthens slightly, with highs in 30s/low 40s from Great Falls south to Bozeman/Dillon. Some concern these temps may be a bit warm given the fresh snow cover and extensive cloud cover expected Mon, but with strong majority of models in close agreement, it's hard to argue against it at this point. Westerly flow also should promote a fair amount of drying in the low levels, so snow will be mainly confined to the western and southwestern mtns, with just spotty precip coverage over the central plains. Waranauskas Monday night through Saturday...Models start the medium range period in decent agreement. The combination of an upper ridge along the west coast and a persistent closed upper low over British Columbia results in a moist and unstable northwest flow aloft. Scattered snow will occur over the western and southwest mountains while the plains will see isolated light snow. The upper ridge amplifies on Wednesday as the closed low pushes east into northern Saskatchewan. Weak short wave energy moving through the upper ridge will continue to produce mountain snow showers with isolated snow over the plains. A lee side trof develops Wednesday afternoon and persists into early Thursday resulting in breezy conditions. Thursday afternoon will see an increased chance for light snow as an upper trof knocks down the ridge and moves east of the Continental Divide. As the upper ridge rebuilds over the west coast, unstable northwest flow aloft will continue to bring scattered snow to the plains. By Friday, the upper ridge begins to rebound but weak short wave energy moving down the front of the ridge will allow for some lingering snow showers over the plains. The upper ridge axis moves over the Pacific Northwest Saturday bringing drier and warmer conditions to the area. The models disagree on the orientation of the ridge but both maintain generally dry conditions. Afternoon temperatures will generally be slightly below seasonal averages through the period. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF -22 3 -4 31 / 60 40 60 20 CTB -26 -2 -11 24 / 50 40 60 20 HLN -16 18 13 38 / 40 50 60 30 BZN -17 26 19 39 / 20 40 60 30 WEY 6 36 24 40 / 60 70 70 50 DLN -5 31 22 38 / 30 50 50 30 HVR -19 2 -9 16 / 30 40 60 40 LWT -26 2 -3 34 / 30 40 50 30 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL WARNING until Noon MST Sunday Blaine...Cascade... Central and Southern Lewis and Clark...Chouteau...Eastern Glacier...Eastern Pondera...Eastern Teton...Fergus...Hill... Judith Basin...Liberty...Meagher...Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front...Toole. && weather.gov/greatfalls www.twitter.com/NWSGreatFalls www.facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.GreatFalls.gov
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
731 PM MST SAT MAR 01 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM EXTR WIND CHILL 2 WNW MOCCASIN 47.06N 109.95W
03/01/2014 M-41.0 F JUDITH BASIN MT MESONET
-41 WIND CHILL AT MOCCASIN AG RESEARCH STATION.
&&
HOENISCHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood, 1 heavy snow, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy snow measuring 11.0 inches in 22 hours was reported at the Many Glacier SNOTEL; elevation 4900ft.
High sustained winds measuring 40KT (46MPH) reported 4 mi NNE of McAllister, MT at the Norris Hill DOT sensor.
Emergency management reported snow-melt flooding of rural area causing road closures and surrounding some homes.
County emergency managers and law enforcement reported numerous are of water flowing across roads and ponding in poor drainage areas.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, March 2014
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: 502094, 502095, 502196, 502199.