An arctic air mass from the Canadian prairie descended over northeast Montana, bringing the coldest temperatures of the season, and combined with some breezy to gusty winds to create dangerously cold wind chills for some locations.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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.
An arctic air mass from the Canadian prairie descended over northeast Montana, bringing the coldest temperatures of the season, and combined with some breezy to gusty winds to create dangerously cold wind chills for some locations.
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 Dec 16, 2:39 PM MST, 4 hours 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service GLASGOW MT 239 PM MST Fri Dec 16 2016 .SHORT TERM...for northeast Montana...tonight through Sun... Storm system pulling out of the area and Winter Weather Advisory Advisory will be allowed to expire/cancelled early. Now our attention turns to the cold. Arctic high pressure is pushing south into Montana. Back edge of the clearing has made it to the international border and this will continue south, allowing for ideal radiational cooling tonight. Have lowered temps tonight below SuperBlend and neighboring offices are in agreement in our western zones. Arctic high pressure drops into the central Plains Saturday with a lee-side trough developing along the Front Range of Alberta and Montana. This trough or warm front will push east as a surface low drops southeast into north-central Alberta Sunday. This will help to warm things up for northeast Montana that lasts into mid-week. Some warm air advection combined with decent vorticity advection will lead to thick cloudiness and a slight possibility of snow across some northern locations Saturday Night. TFJ .LONG TERM...Sun night through Fri... The long term forecast period remains in excellent shape as described below. Expecting a moderating trend in temperatures with high temperatures returning to the 20s and 30s above...yes above...zero. Some places may even exceed the freezing mark. Question marks exist in that snow cover could hinder the effects of chinook warming, nevertheless, for many it will be a welcome break from the Arctic air mass. Precipitation chances will depend on periodic clippers, with one such system expected Monday and Monday night with a little light snow. Another system Tuesday afternoon could bring a mix of rain and snow to the area. Maliawco Previous Long Term Discussion... Weather change expected for the extended period as the long wave pattern shifts to a lower amplitude zonal pattern. With warmer flow off the Pacific streaming across the northern Rockies and a series of clippers, temperatures across northeast Montana will shift closer to normal. Moderating conditions expected through the early part of the week as a chinook develops with the flow backing to the west. Snow cover could hinder the chinook mixing out the lingering cold air over the valleys of NE Montana on Monday. Monday night a weak front swings through the state which could produce some light snow and should help mix out the cold air. Recent new snow and increasing winds could lead to some blowing snow issues until temperatures warm on Tuesday. Another clipper system will zip across the state on Wednesday with a slightly better chance of snow, and possibly rain in the southwest with the warmer Pacific airmass. One more clipper tracks along the Canadian border on Thursday. Ebert && .AVIATION... MVFR CIGS and VSBYS will end with lingering snow showers this afternoon with a return to VFR overnight as skies clear. North to northwest winds will persist at around 10 kts. Maliawco && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Chill Warning from 11 PM this evening to noon MST Saturday for Central and Southeast Phillips...Garfield...Petroleum... Southwest Phillips. Wind Chill Advisory until noon MST Saturday for Central and Southern Valley...Dawson...McCone...Prairie...Wibaux. Wind Chill Advisory until noon MST Saturday for Daniels... Eastern Roosevelt...Northern Phillips...Northern Valley... Richland...Sheridan...Western Roosevelt. && weather.gov/glasgow
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</html>PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
131 PM MST FRI DEC 16 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1230 PM SNOW 9 SE EDWARDS 47.04N 107.22W
12/16/2016 E3.0 INCH GARFIELD MT TRAINED SPOTTER
LIGHT SNOW CONTINUING.
&&
RICHMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
132 PM MST FRI DEC 16 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1238 PM SNOW 14 SSW FLOWING WELLS RE 47.15N 106.32W
12/16/2016 E2.0 INCH GARFIELD MT TRAINED SPOTTER
STILL SNOWING LIGHTLY.
&&
RICHMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
133 PM MST FRI DEC 16 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1249 PM SNOW 8 S TERRY 46.68N 105.30W
12/16/2016 E4.0 INCH PRAIRIE MT TRAINED SPOTTER
A LITTLE BLOWING SNOW AS WELL.
&&
RICHMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
145 PM MST FRI DEC 16 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0110 PM SNOW 5 W CARLYLE 46.66N 104.19W
12/16/2016 E2.0 INCH WIBAUX MT TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
RICHMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
With some variation in timing and location, wind chill values of -40 to -49 spread across western Roosevelt County from the evening of the 16th through the morning of the 17th.
The Navajo MT-5 DOT site recorded wind chill values between -40 and -48 through the evening hours of the 16th and the morning hours of the 17th.
The Navajo MT-5 DOT site recorded wind chill values between -40 and -48 through the evening hours of the 16th and the morning hours of the 17th.
With some variation in timing and location, wind chill values of -40 to -43 spread across Dawson County from the night of the 16th into the early morning of the 17th. Times are estimated due to intermittent observation data.
With some variation in timing and location, wind chill values of -40 to -48 spread across Richland County from the night of the 16th through the early morning of the 17th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2016
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 667564, 667561, 667562, 667568, 667566.