A series of 700 mb weather disturbances moved generally eastward over North-Central Montana between late evening of February 22nd and early evening of the 24th. During the same period, 700 mb winds became more westerly and strengthened, overall, along and east of the Rocky Mountain Front.
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 series of 700 mb weather disturbances moved generally eastward over North-Central Montana between late evening of February 22nd and early evening of the 24th. During the same period, 700 mb winds became more westerly and strengthened, overall, along and east of the Rocky Mountain Front. This caused a surface trough of low pressure east of the Rocky Mountain Front to deepen, especially during late morning of the 23rd through early morning of the 24th. As the trough deepened, a tightening pressure gradient drove strong, gusty, and westerly surface winds, leading to blizzard conditions along the Rocky Mountain Front.
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 Feb 23, 9:35 AM MST, 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 935 AM MST Fri Feb 23 2018 .UPDATE... Morning update has been published, with only minor adjustments made to winds and temperatures for today. Lowered high temperatures across the Southwest Montana Valley's and in the Milk River Valley across North Central Montana for today, as limited mixing and the depth of the cold/Arctic air in place should be stubborn to moderate in these areas today. In addition, increased winds slightly further along the Rocky Mountain Front and across the plains of North Central Montana to account for current observed values and latest guidance from the 12z WRF models. Blowing and drifting snow has already been noted along the Rocky Mountain Front this morning via webcams, with some roads already becoming closed (ie United States Highway 89 from Two Medicine Creek to Browning) or reporting severe driving conditions. Expect conditions to deteriorate further along the Rocky Mountain Front and into Eastern Glacier County today as wind speeds increase further. Given high temperatures across this region won't exceed freezing, am not worried about the snow crusting over and not being able to be blown around. The one limiting factor to how much snow blows around today is how much has already be scoured out/compacted from recent wind events, which unfortunately is unknow from this distance here in Great Falls. - Moldan && .SYNOPSIS... Windy conditions are expected Friday, and again on Sunday, which will lead to impacts from blowing and drifting snow. Along the Rocky Mountain Front, ground blizzard conditions are expected today through early Saturday morning. Periods of snow are expected over the mountains but lower elevations should remain mostly dry. && .AVIATION... Updated 1140Z. Areas of light snow will continue to produce IFR/MVFR conditions across portions of southwest Montana through 15Z with improving conditons thereafter. Remainder of the forecast area is expected to see primarily VFR conditions with areas IFR/MVFR due to freezing fog through about 18Z. Strong and gusty southwest to westerly winds develop along the Rocky Mountain Front this morning then spread out over the plains through the day. Widespread blowing and drifting snow is expected along the front range of the Rockies producing areas IFR/MVFR visibilities through the forecast period. Patchy blowing snow is expected over the plains. mpj && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 440 AM MST Fri Feb 23 2018/ Today through Sunday...Montana will remain remain under the influence of upper level troughing through the short term forecast period. A disturbance moving through the upper trough will continue to bring light snow to portions of southwest Montana this morning with only minor accumulations expected. Periods of snow can also be expected over the mountains of the Continental Divide at times through the short term but the plains are expected to remain mostly dry. Biggest concern for the short term continues to be strong and gusty winds causing blowing and drifting snow today through early Saturday morning, especially along the Rocky Mountain Front. Have kept the Blizzard Warning for this area intact with no major changes in the forecast anticipated. Another round of windy weather can be expected on Sunday with winds possibly exceeding high wind criteria over a large portion of north central and central Montana. Have kept the Winter Storm Watch in effect for now, but the Sunday event will also feature warmer temperatures for much of the region. This raises the possibility that blowing snow may not become as widespread as anticipated if temperatures are sufficiently high to cause the existing snowpack to crust over. mpj Sunday Night through Friday...A broad low pressure trough will remain over North America through this period, but some differences develop among the models beginning on Wednesday. A progressive weather pattern with a mostly westerly flow aloft with weak embedded disturbances will persist through Tuesday night. The strong westerly winds will decrease overnight Sunday night and into Monday as a shortwave trough swings southeast through the Pacific Northwest and into the Great Basin. This will keep the best chance for snow in the mountains of western and southwest Montana with decreasing blowing snow. This shortwave will then split Monday night and Tuesday, sending the strongest energy south toward the western U.S./Mexico border through Wednesday and leaving only a chance of mountain snow for the forecast area. As mentioned above, this is where the divergence in forecast solutions develops. The ECMWF and Canadian models dig a deep upper level low pressure area south along the Canadian and U.S. Pacific coasts for Thursday through Friday. This would bring an increasingly moist southwest flow to the forecast area, as well as an increasing chance of snow over the entire forecast area, especially for Friday. The GFS model maintains more of a westerly flow aloft through the latter part of the work week, which would keep the better chance for snow over the mountains, as westerly downslope winds keep the plains mostly dry. Will therefore go with a chance of snow near climatological normals for this period and make adjustments as models progress over the next few days. Model consensus temperatures do not vary much through this period, keeping highs mostly 10 to 15 degrees below normal (in the 20s) and lows 5 to 10 degrees below normal (in the single digits to lower teens). Coulston && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 25 16 29 11 / 0 0 20 20 CTB 24 14 28 10 / 0 0 20 10 HLN 23 6 30 9 / 0 10 40 30 BZN 19 3 26 6 / 0 10 30 50 WEY 18 -2 17 -3 / 30 60 70 60 DLN 17 7 22 4 / 30 20 50 30 HVR 13 10 23 5 / 0 0 10 10 LWT 24 11 27 11 / 0 0 20 40 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Watch from Sunday morning through Sunday evening Blaine...Cascade...Chouteau...Eastern Pondera...Eastern Teton... Fergus...Hill...Judith Basin...Liberty...Toole. Blizzard Warning until 6 AM MST Saturday Eastern Glacier... Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
3 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Blizzard conditions reported 17 miles WSW of Bynum by trained spotter. Near-zero visibility in significant blowing snow. Snow drifts up to about 20 feet.
Peak wind gust of 82 mph reported by trained spotter in Babb. Spotter also noted significant blowing snow reducing visibility to near a quarter mile.
Montana DOT reported single lane traffic along MT-213 between Cut Bank and the Canada border. One lane was closed due to at least one large snow drift and special equipment was needed to remove the snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, February 2018
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: 735865, 735866, 735867.