Blizzard conditions were reported along the southern Rocky Mountain Front as a strong weather disturbance moved across the region.
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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 TFX wrote it up.
Blizzard conditions were reported along the southern Rocky Mountain Front as a strong weather disturbance moved across the region.
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 Dec 6, 11:30 PM MST, 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 1130 PM MST Tue Dec 6 2022 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .SYNOPSIS... Periods of snow will continue over the eastern portions of Central and North-central Montana through the evening hours. Very cold temperatures will continue over the plains through Wednesday morning, especially for Hill and Blaine counties. Gusty downslope winds will develop along the Rocky Mountain Front and on the north and east facing mountain slopes on the plains, increasing the threat for blowing snow at least through Wednesday. Although periods of winds will continue through the end of the week, drier conditions with near normal temperatures are expected.. && .UPDATE... 1130 PM UPDATE... Allowed the remaining Winter Weather Advisories for the Rocky Mountain Front and eastern TFX plains to expire. Snowfall has further diminished in the east and any additional lingering accumulation will be minor. The Rocky Mountain Front Advisory has essentially been replaced with the Blizzard Warning, which was started immediately, as wind gusts are already exceeding 35 mph there. -Coulston 711 PM UPDATE... Sending out another update to lower overnight minimum temperatures over the plains. We also have extended the Wind Chill Advisory south to include all of the plains given wind chills in many places already falling below the -20 degree threshold. Finally, I cancelled Public Zones 302, 304, and 308 from the Winter Weather Advisory for snow that had previously been extended to 9 PM MST this evening. 458 PM UPDATE... Based on satellite and radar trends, I have extended the expiration time for the Winter Weather Advisory for snow that was in effect until 5 PM this afternoon to 9 PM MST this evening for Public Zones 302, 304, and 308. Another change made was to lower minimum temperatures tonight over the plains by up to several degrees, closer to the NBM 10th percentile. Several locations had already seen temperatures fall below forecasted lows. Finally, I added freezing drizzle wording to the grids along the Continental Divide both north and south where some models depict the dendritic growth zone drying out overnight tonight into Wednesday while also maintaining light QPF. This is usually a good indicator that the primary precipitation type is liquid instead of frozen (i.e., snow). However, with any measurable precipitation likely confined to the higher mountains, impacts are expected to be negligible or significantly limited. && .AVIATION... 1130 PM MST Tue Dec 6 2022 (07/06Z TAF period) North Central Montana Plains (KCTB, KGTF, KLWT, AND KHVR)... Mid-level cloudiness and lingering light snowfall will continue to move out of the eastern TFX plains (KHVR KLWT) through 09Z. VFR conditions will otherwise mostly persist across the area through the next 24 hours. Moderate mid-level winds will continue mountain wave turbulence and low-level wind shear across the area through 18Z. Gusty westerly winds will also spread east from the Rocky Mountain Front through 15Z, causing much of the area to have blowing snow. Visibilities will mostly be reduced to MVFR conditions at times, but IFR or lower conditions are more likely on the Rocky Mountain Front, causing the mountains to be obscured there. Southwest Montana (KHLN, KBZN, KEKS)... VFR conditions will continue with only scattered to broken mid- and high-level cloudiness passing overhead through the next 24 hours. Decreasing mid-level winds will decrease mountain wave turbulence, but low-level wind shear will continue at KHLN until 18Z. Breezy southerly winds in the Madison River Valley will gust in excess of 25 kt through around 00Z, possibly reducing visibility at times due to lofted snow, but confidence is too low to include in the KEKS TAF at this time. -Coulston Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 326 PM MST Tue Dec 6 2022/ Remainder of this afternoon through Wednesday...A nearly stationary Arctic boundary remains nearly stationary over Central Montana, but is now slowly moving back northward. Bitterly cold temperatures are well established north of this boundary, with more seasonable temperatures being observed over the southwest. Light snow lingers over the northern and central portions of North- central Montana as shortwave energy passes within the northwesterly flow aloft. Snow will generally begin to diminish and end from west to east this afternoon, but will continue through the evening hours over the Rocky Mountain Front and the eastern portions of the plains. Today's advisories mostly remain unchanged, but were lifted early for Cascade, Judith Basin, and the Little Belts as snow has ended for these places. Also, Hill and Chouteau Counties were extended to 11 pm. Wind Chill Advisories were also posted for most of the Hi-line due to 15 to 30 below wind chills likely through Wednesday morning. The colder air should retreat from southwest to northeast tonight into Wednesday as warming winds slowly erode the colder air. Tonight into Wednesday, a tightening surface pressure gradient and 35 to 55 kt H700 winds will initially increase winds along the rocky Mountain Front tonight before expanding onto the plains during the day on Wednesday. The latest NBM 4.1 probabilities suggest a 60 to a percent chance of wind gusts exceeding 55 mph, while portions of North- central Montana see higher probabilities of 39 mph wind gusts or higher, especially for locations of the northern/eastern aspects of higher terrain. A fresh snow pack combined with gusty to at times strong winds will create significant blowing snow concerns tonight and Wednesday, particularly along the Rocky Mountain Front, where ground blizzard conditions are expected. In light of this, a Blizzard Warning has been issued for the Rocky Mountain Front tonight through Wednesday afternoon, and Winter Weather Advisories have been issued for most plains locations. The strongest winds are most likely to occur lat tonight and early Wednesday, but will remain gusty for the remainder of the day. The blowing snow concerns should diminish in the afternoon as winds lighten and snow begins to scour out, regardless the blowing snow winter weather products will run through 5 pm Wednesday afternoon. -RCG Thursday through Saturday... Forecast models indicate that a more progressive pattern will persist through this period. Weak disturbances in a generally westerly flow aloft will bring periods of light snow to the mountains, periods of gusty but not strong westerly winds to the plains, and overall near normal temperatures. However, no single disturbance appears to be strong enough to warrant wind or winter highlights at this time. Sunday through next Tuesday... A deep low pressure trough is forecast to move out of the Gulf of Alaska into the western United States for this period. This should slow down the progression of systems through the area and likely bring at least a few days of cooler than normal temperatures and a broader chance for snow. This set-up will need to be monitored for potential winter weather highlights. -Coulston && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF -7 34 16 32 / 20 0 0 0 CTB -14 32 12 31 / 20 0 0 0 HLN 20 32 7 27 / 10 0 0 0 BZN 10 26 -1 25 / 10 0 0 0 WYS 12 24 -2 20 / 30 20 0 10 DLN 3 23 3 21 / 0 0 0 0 HVR -15 26 10 28 / 60 10 0 0 LWT -3 32 10 33 / 60 0 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH 11 AM MST WEDNESDAY FOR All of North Central and Central Montana. BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH 5 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR the Rocky Mountain Front and immediate adjacent plains. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM UNTIL 5 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR PORTIONS of North Central and Central Montana. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Glacier County DES posted a video on social media of blizzard conditions in Kiowa.
Trained spotter approximately 17 miles west-southwest of Bynum (close to the border of MT zones 307 and 308) reported blizzard conditions for 7 hours. A local volunteer fire department submitted photos from Stonewall Mountain of a communications tower being downed due to the weight of significant riming from snow/ice/wind. The downed tower had been there for 30 years and was the communications tower for multiple emergency response agencies.
Montana Highway Department reported that a large swath of Highway 2 and Highway 89 had severe driving conditions (due to blizzard conditions) west of Browning.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2022
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: 1073229, 1071702, 1073236.