A cold front moved into the region from the northwest, crossing the northern Rockies. This brought a few inches of snow to much of northeast Montana, with up to 8 inches falling across Petroleum County.
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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.
A cold front moved into the region from the northwest, crossing the northern Rockies. This brought a few inches of snow to much of northeast Montana, with up to 8 inches falling across Petroleum County.
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 4, 2:23 PM MST, 2 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 223 PM MST Sun Feb 4 2018 .DISCUSSION... Afternoon Update (2pm MST): No major changes to the forecast were made this afternoon. Radar returns show that the leading edge of the next system is beginning to impinge upon the southwestern portions of the region, consistent with the ramping up of PoPs in that area. Headlines for the expected storm are unchanged as the accumulations in that part of the region are still consistent with the morning package. In the extended, the next potential storm to move over the region on Thursday was ramped up just a bit from the morning package, with a larger swath of greater accumulations, however some model uncertainty as to the track of strongest precipitation rates still exist, so confidence in amounts is medium at best at the moment. The rest of the forecast was in good shape. Bigelbach PREVIOUS DISCUSSION: Model data is fairly concise and in excellent agreement, but the layout and timing of the various winter weather hazards are a bit complex. Wind Chills: Current ongoing threat of 25 below zero to 35 below zero early this morning is for all of NE Montana, but after sunrise today, near and north of Highway 2, wind chills of 20 below zero to 25 below zero will linger/persist through today, then return a bit colder, say 25 below zero to 30 below zero, for tonight through Monday morning. Locations south of Highway 2 will not have cold enough wind chills to warrant an advisory there after sunrise today. Snow: Early this morning, excellent and consistent radar echoes are showing the snowfall from late last night is now only barely clipping the SW corner of our Petroleum County. This is in great agreement with model consensus data which shows this snowfall slowly diminishing and moving away toward the SW through the remainder of this morning. By this afternoon or early this evening, the next round of snowfall is expected to surge back into the area and push into our western and southwestern zones. Careful analysis of the model data indicates that snowfall there will be persistent from then through Monday morning. As the majority of that snow for our area will be over Petroleum County, we chose to issue a Winter Storm Warning there for 6-7 inches of new snow. It should be noted that models also showed a hint of freezing rain mixing in with the snow from around 6PM tonight to midnight, but current thinking is that snow will be the overwhelming dominant precipitation type. A Winter Weather Advisory for 2-4 inches of new snow seemed more appropriate for areas NE of the warning - our SW Phillips County and Garfield County (west side). Later on Monday, that snow will diminish but could linger over Petroleum County a bit longer, so kept the Warning there going out through Monday afternoon. The weather pattern remains much the same throughout the rest of the forecast package. Models are in fairly good agreement that another round of snow will spread a wide swath of an additional 4-6 inches through most of NE Montana from Wednesday night through early Friday morning. BMickelson && .AVIATION... Expected Flight Category: VFR Synopsis: A strong arctic cold front has pushed the cloud deck well south and west of the sites, allowing for clear skies across much of the region. Flying conditions for the rest of today should be pleasant. Tonight, another surge of moisture brings clouds back over the sites, though ceilings are expected to remain at VFR levels. There is a slight chance that sites such as GGW and GDV may be close enough to the expected snow band to receive some vicinity flurries/showers, but confidence in that is low. Winds: Expect light and variable at GGW, with southwest 7-12kt winds at OLF/SDY/GDV today. Tonight, the winds turn at all sites to northwest and remain around 5-10 kts. Bigelbach && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Chill Advisory until 11 AM MST Monday for Central and Southern Valley...Daniels...Eastern Roosevelt...Northern Phillips...Northern Valley...Sheridan...Western Roosevelt. Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM MST Monday for Garfield... Southwest Phillips. Winter Storm Warning until 5 PM MST Monday for Petroleum. && weather.gov/glasgow
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
The Petroleum County sheriff reported 8 inches of new snow with drifts up to approximately two to three feet deep. Light snow was still falling at 8 AM on the 5th but stopped shortly after.
Cooperative observers east northeast of Flatwillow and north northeast of Winnett reported 24 hour snowfall totals of six to eight inches.
Road conditions were treacherous due to drifting and blowing snow. At around 1 AM local time, Highway 200 was closed east of Winnett due to severe driving conditions and a semi trailer blocking the road. The Montana DOT road conditions web-site showed improving conditions by 7 AM.
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: 738489, 738505, 738490.