A Pacific storm tracking southeast through Montana into Wyoming brought heavy snow and blizzard conditions to areas of northeastern Montana.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 Pacific storm tracking southeast through Montana into Wyoming brought heavy snow and blizzard conditions to areas of northeastern Montana.
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 20, 9:08 PM MST, 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 908 PM MST Mon Feb 20 2023 .DISCUSSION... Evening Update: Simply made some minor adjustments to PoPs in southern Phillips and Petroleum Counties to better match with the adjustments that TFX made earlier this afternoon. Timing of the leading edge of precipitation is matching pretty well with PoPs from the afternoon forecast package. Aside from that, all else explained below remains valid. -Enriquez AFTERNOON UPDATE: The decision was made to upgrade all of Phillips and Valley Counties, as well as the western half of Roosevelt County to a Blizzard Warning as latest models showed higher wind speeds. Prairie and Wibaux Counties were upgraded to Winter Storm Warnings to collaborate with neighboring offices and to highlight travel difficulty on the Interstate 94 corridor due to reduced visibility from blowing snow. The next shifts will have to monitor other parts of the CWA as this storm moves in to see if the Blizzard Warning needs to be expanded. As this system starts to move out tomorrow evening cold arctic air will replace it with temperatures going below zero for most of the CWA and staying there until Saturday morning. Friday morning will be the coldest with low temperatures reaching 20-25 below zero. Another band of light snow will also impact the area Wednesday into Thursday but this system doesn't look as intense as the one about to move in. -Bernhart PREVIOUS MORNING DISCUSSION: Synoptic Setup: Forecast begins with the coldest air sitting over the north Hudson Bay and northwest flow ahead of a synoptic ridge running from central British Columbia through southern Alberta to northeast Montana. The crest of the ridge attached to the northwest flow is moving on shore over central British Columbia with a strong disturbance on its back side about to slam into the crest and push it into the Pacific Northwest. This will transmute the bulk of the ridge into a trough plunging it south. Today: Expect a relatively quiet 12 hour period as most snow showers retreat to the far southwest early this morning. Ceilings however will begin to drop into MVFR on average with the approaching storm. Meanwhile, The newly formed trough from the previous ridge crest will plunge through the Pacific Northwest pulling Arctic air down the Front Range ahead of it. Tonight into Wednesday: What remains of the ridge will rapidly exit Montana to the south. The new Arctic cold front will slam into the area this evening with gusty winds behind it. As the trough to the west pulls in Pacific moisture, the moisture will begin to overrun the Arctic air forming a strong band of snow showers that will extend east over the Great Plains from great Falls to Bismark after midnight. Chief impact time looks to be early Tuesday morning with greater than 6 inches possible across the west. For this reason we have upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning in the west with an advisory for some counties in the far northeast and southeast. The wind looks to stay up post cold front through Tuesday which will bring blowing and drifting snow hazards along with visibility reductions. Reductions may get as low as a quarter mile. By Tuesday evening most of the first wave of snow will die off and shift south. However, Wednesday will bring a lesser second wave of snow from the south as the trough briefly drags more moisture into the region and the Arctic air pool continues to deepen. Finally, wind chills Tuesday evening into Wednesday will begin to dip into the hazardous territory of -20*F or below. Wednesday night through Friday night: Dangerous wind chills will continue to be a threat on and off throughout these periods as Arctic air holds on across the region. Shallowing out of the cold pool will begin Friday and last through the overnight hours. Saturday into Sunday: The Arctic air looks to have shifted off to the east as a ridge moves into the region in the bulk of the ensembles. This will generate more seasonal temperatures for this time of year and most likely dry conditions. There is an outside chance for snow melt by Sunday which could bring fog early into the next week with the newly moistened surface layer. Sunday night onward: There is a lot of ensemble disagreement during these periods. But flow looks to turn southwest with a more mild pacific trough moving through. There is a chance for a skiff during its passage. Confidence here on is only average to slightly below. GAH && .AVIATION... LAST UPDATED: 0400Z FLIGHT CAT RANGE: VFR dropping quickly after midnight to IFR or Airport Shutdown DISCUSSION: Heavy snow develops overnight over most of the area. By Tuesday morning, strong winds develop and will produce blowing snow with blizzard or near blizzard conditions, especially at KGGW and KOLF. Snow will taper off in the afternoon but blowing snow will remain in the area overnight Tuesday. Another round of light snow moves into the area Wednesday into Thursday. WINDS: SE-E 15-20kts, gusts to 30kts after midnight, E-NE 25-30kts, gusts to 40kts by morning. -Enriquez && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning until 11 PM MST this evening for Central and Southeast Phillips...Northern Phillips...Southwest Phillips. Winter Storm Warning from 5 PM to 11 PM MST Tuesday for Central and Southeast Phillips...Central and Southern Valley...Northern Phillips...Northern Valley...Southwest Phillips...Western Roosevelt. Blizzard Warning until 5 PM MST Tuesday for Central and Southeast Phillips...Central and Southern Valley...Northern Phillips...Northern Valley...Southwest Phillips...Western Roosevelt. Winter Weather Advisory until 11 PM MST Tuesday for Daniels... Eastern Roosevelt...Sheridan. Winter Storm Warning until 11 PM MST Tuesday for Garfield... Petroleum. Winter Storm Warning until 11 PM MST Tuesday for Dawson... McCone...Prairie...Richland...Wibaux. && weather.gov/glasgow
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 blizzard, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Across the Little Rocky Mountains, measured snowfall amounts ranged from 8.0 to 12.0 inches. The greatest amount of 12.0 inches was reported by the public, via Facebook at 2 E Zortman.
A NWS Employee reported severe driving conditions on US Highway 2 between Saco and Hinsdale. Snowdrifts estimated at 1 foot deep were reported on multiple bridges between the locations.
A NWS Employee reported severe driving conditions on US Highway 2 between Saco and Hinsdale. Snowdrifts estimated at 1 foot deep were reported on multiple bridges between the locations.
Severe driving conditions were reported on the Montana Department of Highways travel map on US Highway 191 between the Malta South DOT webcam near the Zortman turnoff to just south of the Fred Robinson bridge. Severe driving conditions were also reported on the map for MT Highway 66 between the Hays DOT webcam and the junction with US Highway 191.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, February 2023
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: 1079929, 1079930, 1079931, 1079932.