A storm system developed over the Great Basin and tracked northeastward into central and eastern Montana the first week of November. Heaviest snow amounts were in the mountains but the storm's impacts at lower elevations included power outages in Bozeman and numerous vehicle slide offs on area roads.
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 storm system developed over the Great Basin and tracked northeastward into central and eastern Montana the first week of November. Heaviest snow amounts were in the mountains but the storm's impacts at lower elevations included power outages in Bozeman and numerous vehicle slide offs on area roads.
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 Nov 2, 4:45 PM MST, 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 445 PM MST MON NOV 2 2015 .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...THE MAIN STORM SYSTEM IS JUST BEGINNING TO MOVE NORTHWARD INTO SOUTHWEST MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON. THE MAIN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE FROM THE GREAT BASIN TONIGHT AND INTO WYOMING ON TUESDAY...THEN INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST ON WEDNESDAY. THE EC/GFS/WRF ALL HAVE DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS ON THE TRACK OF LOW. THE FURTHER NORTH THE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE GOES THE FURTHER NORTH THE MAIN AREA OF HEAVY SNOW WILL FALL. FOR NOW...I WILL CONTINUE WITH PREVIOUS FORECAST AND CENTER THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA...MAINLY ALONG A LINE FROM DILLON TO BIG SKY...THEN NORTHEASTWARD TOWARDS THE BIG SNOWY MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF LEWISTOWN. THE MAIN PRECIPITATION SHIELD SHOULD PUSH INTO THE BOZEMAN AREA EARLY THIS EVENING...INTO THE HELENA/LEWISTOWN AREA AROUND 2 AM...AND INTO THE GREAT FALLS AREA AROUND 5 AM. SOME RAIN WILL MIX IN AT FIRST...THEN MOSTLY SNOW WILL FALL AROUND DAY BREAK. DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY...THE GFS/WRF MODELS INDICATE TEMPERATURES RISING INTO THE MID 30S AT LOWER ELEVATIONS...WHICH SHOULD CHANGE SOME OF THE SNOW BACK TO RAIN OR A MIX OF RAIN/SNOW. THUS TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS ARE ON THE LOW SIDE OF THE RANGE NOW (AROUND AN INCH)...WITH THE EXPECTATION OF SOME RAIN MIXING IN ON TUESDAY. IF THE PRECIPITATION STAYS AS ALL SNOW ON TUESDAY...SNOW AMOUNTS AROUND 3 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE AT LOWER ELEVATIONS. FOR AREAS NORTH OF GREAT FALLS...GENERALLY A SNOWFALL OF 1 TO 2 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE...WITH MOST OF THE SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FALLING LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON THRU TUESDAY NIGHT. ADDITIONALLY ON WITH TEMPERATURES FALLING INTO THE 20S TUESDAY NIGHT...SOME WET ROADWAYS COULD FREEZE OVER. ON WEDNESDAY...SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL LINGER OVER THE REGION...BUT ANY NEW SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LITTLE. TEMPERATURES WILL STILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL FOR WEDNESDAY. BRUSDA WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS REMAIN IN DECENT AGREEMENT OVER THE EXTENDED PERIOD. MAJOR MODEL SOLUTIONS CONCUR ON THE TIMING AND THE EXIT OF THE TROUGH RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WINTER WEATHER EARLIER IN THE WEEK. MOST OF THE MOISTURE WILL HAVE EXITED BY WEDNESDAY...WITH COOL TEMPERATURES REMAINING IN THE AREA FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WORK WEEK. A WEAK INDUCED RIDGE WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN OVER THE AREA THROUGH THURSDAY BEFORE THE NEXT SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES INTO THE REGION BY FRIDAY MORNING. TIMING AND LOCATION ARE BEGINNING TO DEVIATE ACROSS THE VARIOUS MODEL SOLUTIONS...HOWEVER THERE IS DECENT CONFIDENCE IN THE EVENT OCCURRING, AND BEING A FAST MOVING SYSTEM THAT WILL LIMIT ANY PRECIPITATION CREATED FROM THIS EVENT. A LARGE SCALE RIDGE WILL BUILD INTO THE AREA IN THE WAKE OF THIS SHORTWAVE AND TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO CLIMB BACK TO SEASONAL VALUES BY THIS WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK AS THE RIDGE IS REPLACED WITH ZONAL FLOW ACROSS THE AREA. THERE ARE A FEW EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES IN THE FLOW AND MODEL DIFFERENCES IN TIMING AND LOCATION BEGIN TO DRAMATICALLY DIFFER ON LOCATIONS IMPACTED BY THESE EVENTS...HOWEVER CONFIDENCE IS RELATIVELY HIGH THAT TEMPERATURES WILL TURN COOLER WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR ANOTHER WINTER PRECIPITATION EVENT NEXT WEEK. SUK && .AVIATION...UPDATED 2344Z. AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TONIGHT. CONDITIONS WILL DEGRADE ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA TONIGHT. AREAS OF RAIN AND SNOW WILL CAUSE IFR CONDITIONS AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE TUESDAY AFTERNOON ALTHOUGH LOCAL MVFR/IFR CONDITIONS ARE STILL POSSIBLE AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION IS EXPECTED. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 30 39 25 39 / 40 90 90 30 CTB 24 42 20 40 / 20 30 50 20 HLN 33 41 28 39 / 80 100 90 30 BZN 31 39 27 37 / 100 100 90 40 WEY 24 38 20 34 / 80 80 80 40 DLN 29 39 24 36 / 100 100 60 30 HVR 27 43 26 41 / 20 50 80 40 LWT 30 39 26 36 / 80 100 100 50 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 5 AM TUESDAY TO 5 AM MST WEDNESDAY FOR MTZ008-012-014-015-050>055. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 5 AM TUESDAY TO 5 AM MST WEDNESDAY FOR MTZ050-054. WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 5 AM MST WEDNESDAY FOR MTZ008-015-055. && WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
8 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Fifteen inches of snow fell at the Lakeview Ridge SNOTEL site (elevation 7400 feet).|Additionally, eleven inches of snow fell at the Beagle Springs SNOTEL site (elevation 8850 feet).
Sixteen inches of snow fell at the Carrot Basin SNOTEL site (elevation 9000 feet).|Also, twelve inches of snow fell at the Beaver Creek SNOTEL site (elevation 7850 feet) and eleven inches fell at the Shower Falls SNOTEL site (elevation 8100 feet).
Thirteen inches of snow fell at the Albro Lake SNOTEL site (elevation 8300 feet). Additionally, twelve inches fell at the Clover Meadow SNOTEL site (elevation 8800 feet) and ten inches fell at Lakeview 18NW.
Six inches of snow fell at the Frohner Meadow SNOTEL site (elevation 6480 feet).
Six inches of snow fell at Cascade 18S.
Nine inches of snow fell at the Boulder Mountain SNOTEL site (elevation 7950 feet).
Homestake Pass on I-90 reporting hazardous travel conditions due to snow-covered and icy roads.
US-287 reporting hazardous travel conditions due to icy and snow-covered roads.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, November 2015
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: 606221, 606223, 606226, 606224, 606222, 606227, 612263, 612264.