A signifficant blizzard caused major impacts along the Divide in Glacier County, with widespread strong wind gusts and blowing snow due to a passing storm system.
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 signifficant blizzard caused major impacts along the Divide in Glacier County, with widespread strong wind gusts and blowing snow due to a passing storm system.
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, 4:50 PM MST, 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 450 PM MST Fri Feb 23 2018 Aviation Section Updated .SYNOPSIS... Strong winds along the Rocky Mountain Front and across the remainder of Glacier County will continue through the night, leading to significant blowing and drifting of snow across these areas. Across Southwest Montana and the mountains of Central Montana, light to at times moderate snow is expected to develop tonight and persist into the day on Saturday. Snowfall accumulations over this timeframe and area of two to six inches are expected. After a brief lull in the strong winds Saturday afternoon, winds will once again begin to increase along the Rocky Mountain Front and spread east across the plains of North Central Montana Sunday morning, potentially leading to more blowing and drifting of snow. && .DISCUSSION... This Afternoon through Sunday night...numerous forecast concerns through this forecast period which are as follows: 1) Strong winds leading to significant blowing and drifting of snow along the Rocky Mountain Front and Eastern Glacier through Saturday morning, 2) Moderate snowfall accumulations across Southwest Montana and along the Continental Divide tonight through Sunday night, and 3) Strong (potentially) high winds along the Rocky Mountain Front and over the plains of North Central Montana Sunday morning and afternoon, possibly leading to additional blowing and drifting of snow. Surface pressure gradient will continue to strengthen along the Rocky Mountain Front through the early morning hours on Saturday as a lee-side surface trough sharpens in response to a developing area of low pressure across Central Alberta. By the mid-morning hours on Saturday, the surface low over Alberta will begin to slide east and south into Saskatchewan, which will allow the pressure gradient to relax significantly. This relaxation in the pressure gradient will allow winds to drop off along the Rocky Mountain Front and over the adjacent plains of North Central Montana. For this reason, will keep the current end times of 13z for the Blizzard Warning and Winter Weather Advisory for blowing/drifting snow as is for the current highlighted areas. Continued blowing and drifting of snow is expected through the night tonight over the highlighted areas, with the most severe impacts within the Blizzard Warning where numerous road closures have already occurred today. A fast moving and energetic shortwave with very impressive H700 frontogenic forcing will cross Southwest Montana this evening and into the day on Saturday. This disturbance looks to bring a quick shot of 2-6" for elevations above 6,500ft, which primarily will affect mountain passes like Monida, Chief Joseph, Raynolds, and Targhee. For this reason, have decided to issue a Winter Weather Advisory for Beaverhead, Madison, and Gallatin Counties above 6500ft for the expected snowfall, which will likely create some impacts to travel over the aforementioned mountain passes due to snow covered/slick roadways through Saturday afternoon. After a slight decrease in snowfall intensity Saturday afternoon/evening, snowfall intensities will begin to increase along the Continental Divide and over the mountains of Southwest and Central Montana. Additional winter weather headlights will likely be needed for this second wave of accumulating snow, especially across Southwest Montana and along the Continental Divide. 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. - Moldan/mpj Monday 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 continue to 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 && .AVIATION... Updated 2350Z. Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to increasing clouds overnight. Blowing snow will diminish this evening, but is likely to be a problem in Cut Bank for the next few hours. Light snow develop after Midnight over Southwest MT and the Rocky Mountain Front. Snow likely to move into the Bozeman area after 00z Sun. Mountains/passes will be obscured at times on Saturday. Brusda && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 13 30 15 41 / 0 10 10 20 CTB 13 31 14 37 / 0 10 10 20 HLN 5 27 15 39 / 20 20 20 50 BZN 5 25 9 34 / 10 30 30 30 WEY -4 18 -1 21 / 50 60 60 70 DLN 1 21 4 32 / 20 30 30 50 HVR 3 25 10 39 / 0 10 10 20 LWT 8 28 14 38 / 0 10 20 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM MST Saturday Cascade... Chouteau...Eastern Pondera...Eastern Teton...Hill...Judith Basin...Liberty...Toole. Winter Storm Watch from Sunday morning through Sunday evening Blaine...Cascade...Chouteau...Eastern Pondera...Eastern Teton... Fergus...Hill...Judith Basin...Liberty...Toole. Winter Weather Advisory from midnight tonight to midnight MST Saturday night above 6500 feet for Beaverhead...Gallatin... Madison. Blizzard Warning until 6 AM MST Saturday Eastern Glacier... Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1140 AM MST FRI FEB 23 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0919 AM NON-TSTM WND GST TWO MEDICINE BRIDGE MDT 48.45N 113.20W
02/23/2018 M62 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTBRN, TWO MEDICINE BRIDGE
MDT. SUSTAINED WINDS AT 40 MPH.
&&
PNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1142 AM MST FRI FEB 23 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1121 AM NON-TSTM WND GST DEEP CREEK RAWS 48.36N 113.11W
02/23/2018 M75 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION DCRM8, DEEP CREEK RAWS.
SUSTAINED WINDS AT 56 MPH.
&&
PNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1228 PM MST FRI FEB 23 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1130 AM NON-TSTM WND GST BABB 48.86N 113.44W
02/23/2018 E81 MPH GLACIER MT TRAINED SPOTTER
GROUND BLIZZARD.
&&
PNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1230 PM MST FRI FEB 23 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1130 AM BLIZZARD BABB 48.86N 113.44W
02/23/2018 GLACIER MT TRAINED SPOTTER
BLOWING SNOW TO A DEPTH OF ABOUT 20 FEET.
SEVERE DRIFTING. INTENSITY OF BLOWING SNOW
DECLINING AS WIND SCOURS SNOW TO BARE
GROUND.
&&
PNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
454 PM MST FRI FEB 23 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1030 AM NON-TSTM WND GST HODGES - 11 NE AUGUSTA 47.65N 112.29W
02/23/2018 M40 MPH TETON MT MESONET
MESONET STATION HODMT, HODGES - 11 NE
AUGUSTA.
1100 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 E WOLF CREEK CWOP 47.01N 112.01W
02/23/2018 M48 MPH LEWIS AND CLARK MT MESONET
MESONET STATION E3831, 2 E WOLF CREEK CWOP.
1206 PM NON-TSTM WND GST TWO MEDICINE BRIDGE MDT 48.45N 113.20W
02/23/2018 M63 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTBRN, TWO MEDICINE BRIDGE
MDT.
1206 PM NON-TSTM WND GST CUT BANK AIRPORT 48.60N 112.38W
02/23/2018 M49 MPH GLACIER MT ASOS
ASOS STATION CTB, CUT BANK AIRPORT.
1221 PM NON-TSTM WND GST DEEP CREEK RAWS 48.36N 113.11W
02/23/2018 M79 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION DCRM8, DEEP CREEK RAWS.
0111 PM NON-TSTM WND GST SAINT MARY RAWS 48.74N 113.43W
02/23/2018 M51 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION SRYM8, SAINT MARY RAWS.
0202 PM NON-TSTM WND GST GREAT FALLS AIRPORT 47.47N 111.38W
02/23/2018 M41 MPH CASCADE MT ASOS
ASOS STATION GTF, GREAT FALLS AIRPORT.
0205 PM NON-TSTM WND GST MONARCH CANYON MDT 47.14N 110.82W
02/23/2018 M44 MPH CASCADE MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTMON, MONARCH CANYON MDT.
0230 PM NON-TSTM WND GST SUNBURST MDT 48.88N 111.90W
02/23/2018 M47 MPH TOOLE MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTSUN, SUNBURST MDT.
0343 PM NON-TSTM WND GST DEARBORN MDT 47.14N 111.86W
02/23/2018 M40 MPH CASCADE MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTYEP, DEARBORN MDT.
0344 PM NON-TSTM WND GST ROGERS PASS MT200 MDT 47.09N 112.37W
02/23/2018 M40 MPH LEWIS AND CLARK MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTROG, ROGERS PASS MT200
MDT.
0409 PM NON-TSTM WND GST GLEASON RAWS 47.87N 112.67W
02/23/2018 M47 MPH TETON MT MESONET
MESONET STATION GSNM8, GLEASON RAWS.
&&1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trained spotter measured a peak wind gust of 82 mph along with blizzard conditions.
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: 738314.