A very cold arctic air mass from the Canadian prairie pushed into the region and interacted with some lingering Pacific moisture to generate the first widespread accumulating snow of the season. Totals ranged from 4 to 6 inches for the most part across the affected area.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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.
A very cold arctic air mass from the Canadian prairie pushed into the region and interacted with some lingering Pacific moisture to generate the first widespread accumulating snow of the season. Totals ranged from 4 to 6 inches for the most part across the affected area. Totals were up to 9 inches in the Little Rocky Mountains.
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 Nov 9, 4:04 AM MST, 56 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 404 AM MST SUN NOV 9 2014 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA...TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY... FRONTAL BOUNDARY SETTING UP OVER SOUTHERN MONTANA WITH MOISTURE STREAMING ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES ALONG THE FRONT. ARCTIC HIGH OVER SASKATCHEWAN PUSHING COLD AIR INTO NORTHERN MONTANA THIS MORNING WITH PRECIPITATION CHANGING OVER TO SNOW IN A LINE FROM APPROXIMATELY CHINOOK TO GLENDIVE CURRENTLY. SNOW LINE IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING SOUTH THROUGH THE MORNING BUT SHOULD SLOW SLIGHTLY ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST THIS AFTERNOON. HEAVIEST INTENSITY SNOW IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT AS THE SHORTWAVE SLIDING DOWN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES REACHES MONTANA. DECREASED SNOW ACCUMULATIONS SLIGHTLY WITH THE EXPECTATION OF MELTING AND SETTLING WITH HEAVY WET SNOW INITIAL BUT OVERALL STILL ON TRACK FOR WARNING CRITERIA FOR A LARGE PORTION OF THE REGION. DRIER AIR BEGINS WORKING INTO THE NORTH ON MONDAY WITH ARCTIC HIGH PUSHING SOUTHWARD. SNOW SHOULD TAPER OFF FROM NORTH TO SOUTH THROUGH THE DAY. A SECOND SHORTWAVE SLIDES ALONG THE CANADIAN ROCKIES AND THE MODEL TREND IS TO SPIN IT INTO A CLOSED LOW OVER SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN BY MONDAY AFTERNOON THEN TRACK ACROSS NORTHEAST MONTANA MONDAY NIGHT. THIS LOW WILL BRING ANOTHER SURGE OF VERY COLD AIR AND COULD SEE SOME LIGHT SNOW OR MORE LIKELY FLURRIES INTO TUESDAY. EBERT .LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY... THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD BEGINS JUST AS THE ARCTIC UPPER LOW CENTER SHIFTS SOUTHWARD THROUGH OUR CWA. AS IT DOES...FORECAST CONFIDENCE BEGINS TO DECREASE AS MODEL SOLUTIONS BEGIN TO DIVERGE AND FALL OUT OF CONSENSUS. EVEN THOUGH THE MODELS SHOW A MESS OF DISAGREEMENT IN THE SYNOPTIC LARGE-SCALE FLOW...THERE DOES SEEM TO BE SOME KIND OF OVERALL GENERAL SEMBLANCE OF A DIFFUSE...WEAK...OR STAGNANT UPPER-LEVEL FLOW. AS A RESULT...NOT EXPECTING MUCH IN THE WAY OF PRECIPITATION THROUGH THIS FORECAST PERIOD. ANY PRECIP WHICH DOES SHOW UP ON THE INDIVIDUAL MODEL SOLUTIONS...IS SO LIGHT AND SPORADIC...THAT I FELT IT WAS BEST REPRESENTED WITH SILENT POPS FOR NOW. ALSO EXPECTING TEMPERATURES TO DROP TO AROUND 20 TO 25 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THIS FORECAST PERIOD AS THE RESIDUAL ARCTIC INFLUENCE HOLDS SWAY OVER THE REGION AS A WHOLE. BMICKELSON && .AVIATION... SNOW HAS BEGUN TO SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION...AFFECTING THE TAF SITES THIS MORNING. IFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL FOR MOST OF THE DAY...THEN LOWERING CEILINGS AND WORSE VISIBILITY ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS THE HEAVIER SNOW BANDS OCCASIONALLY STRETCH OVER THE TAF SITES FROM NW TO SE. EXPECT AMENDMENTS FROM TIME TO TIME. GREATEST IMPACTS...WITH POSSIBLE LIFR CONDITIONS WILL BE BETWEEN 15Z TODAY AND 03Z TONIGHT. TOWARD THE END OF THIS TAF CYCLE...CEILINGS WILL BEGIN TO RAISE A BIT...BUT INCREASED WINDS MAY STILL KEEP VISIBILITY LOW DUE TO BLOWING SNOW. BMICKELSON && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM MST MONDAY FOR GARFIELD...PETROLEUM. WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL NOON MST MONDAY FOR CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PHILLIPS...CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY...DAWSON... EASTERN ROOSEVELT...MCCONE...NORTHERN PHILLIPS...NORTHERN VALLEY...PRAIRIE...RICHLAND...SOUTHWEST PHILLIPS...WESTERN ROOSEVELT...WIBAUX. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM MST MONDAY FOR DANIELS... SHERIDAN. && WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 348 AM MST SUN NOV 9 2014 MTZ016>027-059>062-101100- CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PHILLIPS-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY- DANIELS-SHERIDAN-WESTERN ROOSEVELT-PETROLEUM-GARFIELD-MCCONE- RICHLAND-DAWSON-PRAIRIE-WIBAUX-NORTHERN PHILLIPS- SOUTHWEST PHILLIPS-NORTHERN VALLEY-EASTERN ROOSEVELT- 348 AM MST SUN NOV 9 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT COLD AIR PUSHING OUT OF CANADA THIS MORNING WILL SPREAD A BAND OF MIXED PRECIPITATION SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION. AS TEMPERATURES DROP THROUGH THE DAY...SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY WITH SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR DANIELS AND SHERIDAN COUNTIES...AND A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE REMAINDER OF NORTHEAST MONTANA AS UP TO 9 INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SNOW WILL TAPER OFF FROM THE NORTH ON MONDAY. THE ARCTIC AIR MASS WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES BELOW FREEZING THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
From other reports around the area, an average of 5 to 6 inches of snow is likely to have fallen across central and southern Phillips County. A spotter at Dodson reported 6 inches.
Multiple spotters near the higher elevations of western Valley County reported 6 inches of snow.
While most of Dawson County likely received 4 to 5 inches of snow with this storm, a trained spotter located 13 miles NE of Bloomfield, near the higher elevations amid the Big Sheep Mountains, reported 7 inches.
While 4 to 5 inches of snow were likely more common across Prairie County, a spotter located 30 NW Terry in the Big Sheep Mountains, reported 5 to 6 inches.
Reports of 6 to 7 inches of snow were common near and around the Little Rocky Mountains, with 7 inches reported at the Buckhorn General Store in Zortman and 8.75 inches reported just across the county line in Hays.
While 4 to 5 inches of snow were common across northern Phillips County, a public call from the town of Loring reported 6 inches.
A wide range of snow amounts fell across the large expanse of Garfield County. Reports of 2 to 4 inches were common across eastern and southern portions of the county, while reports of 5 to 6 inches were more common over the higher terrain of western and northwestern Garfield County, with a maximum of 8 inches of snow reported by a trained spotter located 17 WNW of Jordan.
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, November 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: 545718, 545720, 545714, 545721, 545715, 545716, 545717.