On February 6 a group of 4 men from Iowa were riding in Lionhead. They had ridden in the area for the last 12-15 winters.
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.
On February 6 a group of 4 men from Iowa were riding in Lionhead. They had ridden in the area for the last 12-15 winters. They all had a beacon, shovel and probe, and 3 of the 4 had airbag packs, including the victim. They all had taken avalanche awareness classes multiple times and read the GNFAC avalanche forecast that morning. The site of the avalanche is locally referred to as Ski Hill , a common slope for snowmobilers to ride ever since a large avalanche cleared trees from the bottom of the path in March 2012. The party knew this was avalanche terrain and had seen the slope slide before.|Bradie (30 years old), the victim, was an expert rider who spent 3 winters in the area. No one witnessed the avalanche, but his brother believes he was sidehilling across the slope, which he had done earlier. Two of the 4 were on top of the slope and out of view. His brother rode up the hill from the bottom of Denny Creek when he saw avalanche debris and Bradie’s flipped sled. Further upslope he spotted orange fabric from a deflated airbag against a tree. He made his way over on sled and foot. It is undetermined if Bradie deployed the airbag or if the zipper opened and spilled the fabric out of the pack. The bright color signaled his location. The brother estimates 10-15 minutes passed from when the avalanche was triggered to when he saw it. It took him another 5-10 minutes to reach and uncover his brother. Bradie had his back pressed against a tree, head helmeted and slightly uphill, but buried under a foot of debris. He was not breathing, although his brother heard a few gasps after digging him out.
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 6, 4:45 PM MST, 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 445 PM MST Sun Feb 6 2022 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .SYNOPSIS... Dry and mainly mild conditions are expected over the region though much of this week with the exception of some isolated mountain showers Monday and some light precipitation with a quick moving weather system late this week. Otherwise, the main weather impact will be strong wind across most of north-central Montana on Monday, with another period of stronger winds possible again on Thursday. && Upper level ridge along the west coast with axis extending north into BC will slump southeast tonight ahead of a shortwave trough crashing onshore that moves SE across southern AB and MT Monday. Overall forecast has changed little with respect to this system and anticipated strong winds across most of north-central MT Monday and the remaining high wind watch was upgraded to a warning for eastern portions of north-central MT. Expect strengthening winds along the Rocky Mtn Front late tonight with gusts in excess of 50kts spreading east onto the adjacent high plains and as far east as Cut Bank Monday morning. Period of strongest winds in these areas is likely to occur during the Monday morning period as cross-barrier flow and favorable temp/wind profiles for downslope wind enhancement peak, resulting in potential gusts to 80 mph or higher, especially right along the Rocky Mtn Front. Expect strong winds with gusts in excess of 50kts to develop by late Monday morning downwind of the Little Belts and central MT ranges with the rest of north-central MT seeing a period of strong winds translate east across the area Monday afternoon into early evening as the shortwave passes followed by mid-level cold advection to help mix winds down to the surface. SW MT is largely unaffected by this system with windy conditions primarily confined to higher mountain ridges. In addition to the strong winds across the plains on Monday, unseasonably mild temperatures in the mid to upper 50s and humidity as low as around 20% will contribute to increased grassland fire danger in areas where snow-cover is absent. Fortunately, most areas have seen at least intermittent snow- cover over the last few weeks and residual soil moisture is likely to mitigate a greater fire weather concern. Hoenisch Tuesday through Sunday...Expect a mostly dry weather pattern over the region during this period. The one exception will be on Friday, as the forecast models differ on whether or not to bring an Alberta clipper south through our region. The NBM has quite low POPs for this time period, thus POPs were increased a touch over the NBM. Otherwise, temperatures look on track, with above normal temperatures expected through the period. Brusda && .AVIATION... 445 PM MST Sun Feb 6 2022 (07/00Z TAF period) A fairly dry northwest flow aloft will continue VFR conditions through at least the next 24 hours, with mainly high level cloudiness passing overhead. The larger concern will be winds. Mid level winds will increase during the period, for worsening mountain wave turbulence and low level wind shear. Surface winds will decrease somewhat this evening, but they will increase again after 06Z over the plains and then more so after 15Z when gusts could exceed 50 kt at times, especially on the Rocky Mountain Front. Winds in the southwest valleys should increase after 15Z. -Coulston Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 30 57 28 47 / 0 0 0 0 CTB 30 51 28 43 / 0 0 0 0 HLN 21 48 28 46 / 0 0 0 0 BZN 8 42 17 41 / 0 0 0 0 WYS -1 31 4 32 / 0 0 0 0 DLN 13 42 20 41 / 0 0 0 0 HVR 30 56 27 46 / 0 0 0 0 LWT 27 53 27 43 / 0 0 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from 9 AM to 9 PM MST Monday Cascade...Central and Southern Lewis and Clark...Chouteau...Eastern Pondera... Eastern Teton...Judith Basin...Liberty...Meagher...Toole. High Wind Warning from 11 AM to 11 PM MST Monday Blaine... Fergus...Hill. High Wind Warning from 5 AM to 9 PM MST Monday 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
248 PM MST SUN FEB 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM SNOW 7 SSE NEIHART 46.84N 110.70W
02/06/2022 E6.0 INCH MEAGHER MT PUBLIC
SHOWDOWN SKI RESORT REPORTED 6 INCHES OF NEW
SNOWFALL IN THE LAST 24 HOURS AS OF THE
ESTIMATED REPORT TIME.
&&
SAC1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center reports a snowmobiler was caught in a natural avalanche near the Lionhead Recreation area. Individual was carried into trees by the avalanche.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Gallatin | 2022-02-06 | 30 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
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, February 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: 1009762.