Another in a series of winter storms impacted the central and western portions of the Billings Forecast Area. Heavy snow impacted the mountains and foothills especially.
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 BYZ wrote it up.
Another in a series of winter storms impacted the central and western portions of the Billings Forecast Area. Heavy snow impacted the mountains and foothills especially. Snowfall of 8-12 inches was common from the Emigrant and Livingston areas to Big Timber, Absarokee, Red Lodge and Fort Smith. Over 20 inches of snow fell in the mountains just southeast of Livingston, as well as across Mystic Lake. The Billings airport reported 7.7 inches, and the 5.6 inches that occurred on January 31st was a daily record. Multiple accidents and slide offs occurred on Interstate 90 from Livingston to the Wyoming state line.
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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 31, 9:24 PM MST, 2 hours 36 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Billings MT
924 PM MST Tue Jan 31 2017
.UPDATE...
Snowfall will very slowly end from north to south this evening.
Majority of the snow is now from Park County to Yellowstone County
and areas south, as the snow has ended north and east of this
line. Radar is showing the bulk of the snow as being light but a
few heavier bands continue across the Beartooth/Absaroka foothills
through southern Big Horn County into Sheridan County. A very
strong 150kt jet will continue to move across the forecast area
tonight but the main dynamics and upper level support will be
shifting south into Wyoming. Models continue to place a strong
area of frontogenesis across the Beartooth/Absaroka foothills, as
well as the Big Horn Mountains this evening and this is where the
heaviest snow bands have been occurring. As a result, I did
increase snow chances to 100 percent along the foothills areas
from Sheridan to Livingston.
The area of frontogenesis is expected to shift south into Wyoming
later tonight taking the heavier snow with it. No changes are
planned with the current advisories/warnings. Previous forecast
discussion below has all this covered well. Updated forecast has
been sent. Hooley
&&
.SHORT TERM...valid for Tue and Wed...
Considerable snowfall occurring across the western half of our
CWA. Several inches have fallen within our highlighted areas
with 3-6 inches of accumulation common. The higher amounts in the
Park City to Livingston corridor and down into the foothills.
Sheridan is also pushing 4-5 inches at mid afternoon. Based on
reports and expectation of additional snowfall and impacts, we
have upgraded Sheridan, Red Lodge Foothills, Eastern Carbon and
Southern Big Horn to Winter Storm Warnings. Southern Yellowstone
County may see some amounts approach 6 inches or more as well, but
feel the heaviest snow will be over by 5 or 6 PM so have just left
it in a Winter Weather Advisory.
Pacific jet stream oriented over our region is providing extra
lift as it pushes moisture over the easterly flow of cold air.
There is a powerful 150 kt jet max that is passing through and
will exit this evening. We should see snow let up a bit at that
point and sink a little south. Areas of snow will fluctuate
overnight and into early Wednesday, depositing a few more inches
of snowfall, mainly over and near higher terrain. The snow should
all but completely end Wednesday afternoon as surface high
pressure settles into eastern plains of Montana. We do expect at
least some snowfall to continue over west facing slopes in the
high country as some Pacific moisture continues to make into the
mountains.
Cyclonic flow with the primary trough axis shifting across our
region will bring the snow further north again into our CWA.
Question is how far north? EC and NAM are much more aggressive
than the GFS. We will blend solutions but align PoP's toward the
EC due to the track of the energy aloft which is right over our
area. We may need to issue advisories again for Thursday as
another few inches of snow are possible, but we will let this
initial round end first. BT
.LONG TERM...valid for Thu...Fri...Sat...Sun...Mon...
Models continue to show weak shortwave ridging Friday, with some
Pacific moisture over the southwestern mountains. Have continued
PoPs in the mountains, through the weekend. While most of the
activity will be over the mountains, some could drift onto the
adjacent plains. Tempeatures look to moderate some so have
temperature in the 30s for highs and 20s for lows. Going into
Sunday winds will increase, so will continue to monitor for
possible wind highlights. With the warming temperature, this
should help keep blowing snow issues at bay.
Into early next week, a stronger system moving in from the
northwest. Have continued the inherited PoPs. Reimer
&&
.AVIATION...
Snow will decrease across the northern half of the area overnight
but KLVM and KSHR will continue to see IFR until daybreak.
Periods of snow will continue at KBIL until 0900UTC but patchy
fog could keep low visibilities around into the morning hours.
borsum
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 021/026 011/017 005/014 001/024 017/034 022/039 017/025
++/S 65/S 56/S 41/B 12/S 21/B 22/S
LVM 022/030 008/015 002/013 904/033 025/044 032/046 025/033
++/S 96/S 66/S 42/S 23/O 22/R 33/S
HDN 023/027 007/017 001/015 905/023 011/031 013/039 014/027
++/S 73/S 34/S 51/B 12/S 21/B 22/S
MLS 026/026 007/016 001/013 902/018 010/025 011/032 012/021
77/S 11/B 11/B 11/B 12/S 11/B 22/S
4BQ 025/028 006/016 901/014 905/023 014/033 014/037 015/027
76/S 72/S 13/S 41/B 01/E 11/B 12/S
BHK 023/024 004/012 902/011 904/016 009/026 008/031 011/020
88/S 11/B 01/B 21/B 11/E 11/E 22/S
SHR 028/030 007/015 901/012 903/025 015/037 017/041 018/031
+9/S +7/S 65/S 41/B 12/S 11/B 12/S
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...Winter Storm Warning in effect until 6 AM MST Wednesday FOR
ZONES 28-34-38>42-56-63>66.
Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 6 AM MST Wednesday
FOR ZONES 29-35-57-58.
Winter Storm Warning in effect until 6 PM MST Wednesday FOR
ZONES 67-68.
WY...Winter Storm Warning in effect until 6 AM MST Wednesday FOR
ZONE 99.
Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 6 PM MST Wednesday
FOR ZONE 98.
&&
weather.gov/billingsPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
837 PM MST TUE JAN 31 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM HEAVY SNOW 1 WSW ROBERTS 45.37N 109.16W
01/31/2017 M7.0 INCH CARBON MT PUBLIC
0800 PM SNOW 7 SSW SONNETTE 45.32N 105.91W
01/31/2017 M1.6 INCH POWDER RIVER MT CO-OP OBSERVER
0700 PM HEAVY SNOW BIG TIMBER 45.83N 109.95W
01/31/2017 M8.0 INCH SWEET GRASS MT CO-OP OBSERVER
0600 PM SNOW 20 ESE COLSTRIP 45.82N 106.23W
01/31/2017 M1.5 INCH ROSEBUD MT CO-OP OBSERVER
0600 PM SNOW 5 W MELVILLE 46.10N 110.05W
01/31/2017 M3.7 INCH SWEET GRASS MT CO-OP OBSERVER
0600 PM SNOW 1 S RAPELJE 45.97N 109.26W
01/31/2017 M5.6 INCH STILLWATER MT CO-OP OBSERVER
0600 PM SNOW 3 ENE RIDGEWAY 45.50N 104.45W
01/31/2017 M1.0 INCH CARTER MT CO-OP OBSERVER
0600 PM SNOW 3 NNW MIZPAH 46.29N 105.29W
01/31/2017 M1.8 INCH CUSTER MT CO-OP OBSERVER
&&
DLBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Mystic Lake received 13 inches of snow.
Snowfall of 10 inches was reported across the area.
Snowfall of 7 inches along with bad road conditions were reported across the area.
Snowfall of 6 inches along with bad road conditions were reported across the area.
Interstate 90 was closed at Livingston due to an accident.
Snowfall of 12 inches was reported across the area.
Snowfall of 6 to 12 inches was reported across the area.
Snowfall of 7 to 10 inches was reported across the area.
Snowfall of 6 to 7 inches was reported across the Big Timber area.
Snowfall of 7 to 8 inches was reported across the area.
Snowfall of 6 to 7 inches was reported across the Billings area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, February 2017
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: 669124, 669125, 669127, 669128, 669346, 669348, 669350, 669355, 669358, 669359, 669362.