Precipitation from a northern Rockies weather system moved across northeast Montana just ahead of a warm front. The lingering surface temperatures below freezing set up perfect conditions for accumulating freezing rain and ice during the Saturday morning hours.
Every event with a place to put it; 10 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.
Precipitation from a northern Rockies weather system moved across northeast Montana just ahead of a warm front. The lingering surface temperatures below freezing set up perfect conditions for accumulating freezing rain and ice during the Saturday morning hours.
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 Feb 13, 2:53 AM MST, 5 hours 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 253 AM MST SAT FEB 13 2016 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA...TODAY THROUGH MONDAY... A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS EASTERN MONTANA FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MEANWHILE...A SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE THROUGH EASTERN MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON. THE SYSTEM HAS PLENTY OF MOISTURE WITH IT FOR PRECIPITATION MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE BEST CHANCE BEING SOUTH OF THE MISSOURI RIVER WHERE THE STRONGEST UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS ARE EXPECTED. GIVEN THAT TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO WARM TO ABOVE FREEZING BY AFTERNOON IN MOST AREAS... PRECIP TYPE WILL BE MOSTLY RAIN. WILL NOT ISSUE ANY ADVISORIES AT THIS TIME. THE WAVE WILL MOVE TO THE EAST THIS EVENING TAKING THE MOISTURE WITH IT. A SHORTWAVE TROUGH ON SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT IN NW FLOW ALOFT STAYS MAINLY TO THE SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. LOOK FOR DRY WEATHER IN MOST AREAS WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN POSSIBLY MIXED WITH FREEZING RAIN IN THE SOUTHWEST. THE NEXT WAVE IN NW FLOW ALOFT MOVES THROUGH NORTHEAST MONTANA MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE SYSTEM HAS ENOUGH MOISTURE FOR A CHANCE OF MIXED PRECIP (RAIN...FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND SNOW) ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. PRECIP TYPE WILL BE DEPENDENT ON TEMPERATURES WHICH WILL BE NEAR THE FREEZING MARK IN THE MORNING BUT WARM WELL ABOVE IT IN MOST AREAS DURING THE DAY. FORRESTER .LONG TERM...MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY... TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...A MODERATELY STRONG RIDGE WILL SLOWLY BUILD INTO THE REGION FROM WEST TO EAST. THE RESPONSIBLE DISTURBANCE IS NOT EASY TO PICK OUT IN THE SYNOPTIC SCALE...BUT MODEL AGREEMENT INDICATES THAT THERE WILL BE A PASSING CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW MIX THROUGH NE MONTANA EARLY TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES AND PRECIP AMOUNTS SUGGEST SOME ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE MAINLY FROM DODSON TO FORT PECK AND POINTS NORTH. LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THE RIDGE AXIS MOVES THROUGH THE AREA AND TURNS THE FLOW ALOFT FROM THE SW WHICH SETS THE AREA UP FOR A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE TO MOVE INTO NE MONTANA BY THURSDAY EVENING. THURSDAY NIGHT AND BEYOND...ENOUGH MODEL DISAGREEMENTS SHOW UP TO KEEP FORECAST CONFIDENCE WELL BELOW AVERAGE INTO NEXT WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES LOOK DECENT. PRECIP CHANCES ARE HIT AND MISS AVERAGE. BMICKELSON && .AVIATION... SYNOPSIS: ANOTHER PACIFIC LOW PRESSURE TROUGH IS NOW MOVING INLAND AND WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAIN AND SNOW THROUGH NE MONTANA LATER TODAY THROUGH THIS EVENING. MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL FOLLOW A WARM FRONT AND WILL FALL MAINLY AS RAIN DURING THE AFTERNOON...BUT ANY LITTLE PRECIP AHEAD OF THE FRONT COULD BE FREEZING RAIN THIS MORNING. FLIGHT CATEGORY: LINGERING MVFR CEILINGS AT KGGW EARLY THIS MORNING. OTHERWISE LOW VFR CEILINGS GRADUALLY BECOMING IFR BY MID-DAY AND THIS AFTERNOON AS MORE RAIN APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. WIND: FROM THE EAST AROUND 15 MPH AHEAD OF THE WARM FRONT THIS MORNING...THEN FROM THE WEST UP TO 25 MPH THIS AFTERNOON BEHIND THE FRONT. MICKELSON && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 321 AM MST SAT FEB 13 2016 MTZ016>027-059>062-132300- 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- 321 AM MST SAT FEB 13 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE OF FREEZING RAIN ACROSS NORTHEAST MONTANA THIS MORNING. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM ABOVE FREEZING BY NOON IN MOST AREAS. IF YOU ENCOUNTER SLICK ROAD CONDITIONS REMEMBER TO SLOW DOWN AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .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.
8 winter weather, 2 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Report of freezing rain on the roadways of southwest Phillips county from the MT DOT road conditions website.
A few slide-off vehicle accidents reported along with a light accumulation of freezing rain.
Report of freezing rain on the roadways of McCone county from the MT DOT road conditions website.
Multiple vehicle slide-off accidents with a 1/4 inch of ice accumulation reported.
Trained spotter located 11NNW of Intake reported 1/8 of an inch of freezing rain accumulation.
Report of freezing rain on the roadways of Daniels county from the MT DOT road conditions website.
Trace amounts of freezing rain reported both from the public and from the MT DOT road conditions website.
Public reported trace to light amounts of freezing rain.
Public reported light amounts of freezing rain.
Multiple vehicle slide-off accidents with a 1/4 inch of ice accumulation reported.
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, February 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 621042, 621038, 621039, 621142, 621041, 621043, 621044, 621045, 621046, 621143.