Montana, 2021Winter Weather in Montana, February 27, 2021
February 27, 2021 · NWS BYZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone
A heavy snow shower occurred late morning on the 27th. This resulted in bridges and overpasses becoming quickly snow covered.
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- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
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- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
A heavy snow shower occurred late morning on the 27th. This resulted in bridges and overpasses becoming quickly snow covered. As a result, a multi-vehicle pileup occurred on Interstate 90 just east of Billings. The crash involved approximately 30 vehicles on the bridge crossing the Yellowstone River near mile marker 452. The wreck occurred in the west bound lane, with damaged cars, trucks and SUVs spanning almost half of the bridge. Traffic was backed up for several miles in both directions. I-90 from the South 27th Street entrance to the I-94 split near Johnson Lane was closed for nearly three hours while crews cleared the bridge of wrecked vehicles. Four people were taken to the hospital. Two people were transported off the bridge while two others fell about 100 feet off the bridge. The severity of the wreck led AMR to enact their mass casualty plan, calling in 30 off-duty paramedics. Some people were trapped in their vehicles and a few had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life. Multiple buses transported the stranded travelers off of the bridge with some being taken to the MetraPark.
What forecasters said that day
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 Feb 27, 8:00 AM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 27, 8:00 AM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
800 AM MST Sat Feb 27 2021
.UPDATE...
Webcams and satellite images show areas of fog over eastern
Montana, and they will likely persist over the next couple hours,
hence added patchy fog. No other updates to this mornings
forecast. Vertz
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Today through Sunday...
Surface cold front remains north of our cwa and as of 130 am is
located roughly from Great Falls to Jordan and Glendive. This
front will spread into southeast MT over the next several hours,
and be followed by lowering cloud decks per a large area of
stratus north of the front. Satellite imagery shows troffing over
the intermountain west and a shortwave moving from ID into western
WY. There is a mid level circulation beginning to form just north
of Jackson, WY which will move eastward over time. BLX radar
shows echoes enhancing over our western foothills with current
METAR at Livingston reporting visibility of a mile in snow.
Combination of arriving Canadian front and weak synoptic scale
ascent across our south will bring increasing snow shower activity
between now and sunrise. Heaviest precip today will be on the
east side of the Bighorns courtesy of deepening upslope winds
associated with aforementioned mid level low tracking east. There
remains some uncertainty where exactly the greatest accums will
end up...perhaps just Sheridan county or southern Big Horn as
well. Will make no changes to existing winter highlights for these
zones (for 2-4" of snow and difficult travel conditions), and
have added our portion of the Bighorn Mountains where locations
southeast of Burgess Junction should pick up 5-9". Story should
pick up a good snowfall today.
Remaining lower elevations will see snow showers become focused
along backdooring cold front, aided by steep (~8 C/km) mid level
lapse rates. For the most part, accums will be less than an inch,
but could see localized 1-2" in NW-SE oriented bands (west of
Miles City and likely east of the foothills). Also, there is
another weak shortwave on the back side of the trof, in NW flow
aloft, which moves thru the area this evening. High res models are
suggesting snow showers lingering well into the evening, and this
seems reasonable given the instability.
Precip will end late tonight as flow turns anticyclonic with
building heights from the northwest. This will yield a dry Sunday,
with klondike chinooking bringing gusty SW-W winds along the
western foothills. Gusts from Livingston to Big Timber and
Harlowton could gust near 50 mph tomorrow.
Temps today will be below normal with highs in the mid 20s to mid
30s. We should see upper 30s to low 40s Sunday as the chinook
commences, signaling the start of a warming trend which will
persist thru next week.
JKL
Sunday night through Saturday...
In general, high pressure is expected to dominate the weather for
the upcoming week, with only minor waves moving through the region
helping to flatten ridging at times. Warming temperatures, dry
conditions, and periods of wind can be expected. Gusty to strong
winds look possible through Tuesday along the western foothills,
but should remain below highlite levels. Highs in the 40s to lower
50s are forecast through mid-week, with highs approaching 60
degrees by the upcoming weekend. Lows in the 20s can be expected
most nights/mornings. STP
&&
.AVIATION...
Expect snow showers, areas of MVFR/IFR and local LIFR to impact
the region today. Lowest conditions will be E and N of KBIL
including KMLS. Conditions should improve a bit this afternoon.
Poor flight conditions will also be along the foothills, and
mountains will stay obscured. Snow showers will persist into the
evening, followed by prevailing VFR overnight as drier air spreads
in from the northwest. SW-W winds will increase and gust to 25-35
knots at KLVM-K6S0-KHWQ late tonight. Arthur
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tdy Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 032 017/039 023/046 029/049 028/049 029/052 031/058
5/J 30/N 00/U 00/N 00/U 00/U 00/B
LVM 030 013/035 020/043 026/044 025/045 026/048 029/053
4/J 20/N 00/N 00/N 00/U 00/U 00/B
HDN 031 012/041 019/050 025/052 025/052 025/055 026/059
5/J 20/U 00/U 00/B 00/U 00/U 00/U
MLS 030 014/041 022/051 029/052 027/053 026/056 028/058
2/J 10/N 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U
4BQ 032 013/040 021/050 025/051 026/052 026/055 028/058
3/J 20/N 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U
BHK 030 012/039 019/051 027/050 025/051 025/055 027/057
0/E 10/N 00/U 00/N 00/U 00/U 00/U
SHR 029 007/036 014/047 022/047 021/048 022/050 024/055
9/J 40/U 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U 00/U
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 6 PM MST this evening
FOR ZONE 138.
WY...Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 6 PM MST this evening
FOR ZONE 199.
Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 10 PM MST this
evening FOR ZONE 198.
&&
weather.gov/billingsIn the hours before
Local storm report, Feb 27, 8:16 AM MST, 3 hours 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
816 AM MST SAT FEB 27 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM SNOW 7 ESE LIVINGSTON 45.64N 110.43W
02/27/2021 M2.6 INCH PARK MT COCORAHS
0700 AM SNOW 2 SSW LIVINGSTON 45.63N 110.58W
02/27/2021 M1.5 INCH PARK MT COCORAHS
&&
VERTZWinter Weather, Southwestern Yellowstone
- When
- February 27, 11:30 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
- Where
- Southwestern Yellowstone forecast zone
- Reported by
- Law Enforcement
- Coordinates
- 45.937, -108.274 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
A heavy snow shower occurred late morning on the 27th. This resulted in bridges and overpasses becoming quickly snow covered. As a result, a multi-vehicle pileup occurred on Interstate 90 just east of Billings. The crash involved approximately 30 vehicles on the bridge crossing the Yellowstone River near mile marker 452. The wreck occurred in the west bound lane, with damaged cars, trucks and SUVs spanning almost half of the bridge. Traffic was backed up for several miles in both directions. I-90 from the South 27th Street entrance to the I-94 split near Johnson Lane was closed for nearly three hours while crews cleared the bridge of wrecked vehicles. Four people were taken to the hospital. Two people were transported off the bridge while two others fell about 100 feet off the bridge.|The severity of the wreck led AMR to enact their mass casualty plan, calling in 30 off-duty paramedics. Some people were trapped in their vehicles and a few had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life. Multiple buses transported the stranded travelers off of the bridge with some being taken to the MetraPark.
- Winter Weather
- Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Flash Flooding and Debris Flows in Kentucky, February 27 to 28, 2021$451,000 · 50 events
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Tennessee, February 27 to 28, 20211 injured · $109,000 · 1.5 in hail · 27 events
- Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in South Dakota, February 27 to 28, 202117 events
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in South Dakota, February 27 to 28, 202111 events
- Flash Flood and Heavy Rain in Virginia, February 27 to 28, 20216 events
- Debris Flow and Flooding in West Virginia, February 27 to 28, 20216 events
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Minnesota, February 27 to 28, 20213 events
- Flood in Missouri, February 27 to 28, 20211 event
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: 944389.