Montana, 2022

Extreme Cold in Montana, February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022 · NWS TFX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

As a broad upper level trough set up shop across the area, cold air pushed into the area from Canada. This brought subzero temperatures to most of the area, with some areas getting into the teens below zero.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
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.

What happened

The episode as NWS TFX wrote it up.

As a broad upper level trough set up shop across the area, cold air pushed into the area from Canada. This brought subzero temperatures to most of the area, with some areas getting into the teens below zero. Winds along the Rocky Mountain Front were just enough to result in a few isolated areas of wind chills to -40F.

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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 2, 5:08 AM MST, 1 hour 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 2, 5:08 AM MST, 1 hour 28 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 2, 2:52 AM MST, 3 hours 44 minutes before
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Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, North Rocky Mountain Front

When
February 2, 6:36 AM MST to 8:24 AM MST
Where
North Rocky Mountain Front forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet

Two mesonet sites in the Browning/Two Medicine Bridge area reported wind chills of -40F.

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, February 2022

Sources

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1008537.