Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Montana, February 17 to 18, 2026

Heavy snowfall impacted the US-93 and US-2 corridors. Eureka received 5 inches of snow, and a nearby location, southeast of Eureka, reported 7.5 inches of snow. A CoCoRaHS observer in Marion reported 3.8 inches. Arctic air seeped south after midnight, leading to slick roads and a flipped truck reported north of Eureka at 0855MST.

Intense overrunning mechanisms led to high snowfall rates, with Hungry Horse receiving 8 inches of snow in only 7 hours. At the Essex MDT sensor, the primary Arctic cold front passed between 0700MST and 0800MST producing gusty winds and snowfall. A secondary Arctic surge between by 2200MST on the 17th caused temperatures to drop to 6 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind gusts up to 33 mph creating wind chills as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Nearby, the Summit station recorded approximately 2 inches of snow in less than one hour between 1400MST and 1500MST on the 17th.

Snow Squall. Multiple accidents occurred as heavy snow fell during the morning commute in the Flathead Valley. At 0850MST, an accident was reported in Ferndale, followed by a spun-out semi-truck that blocked both lanes of travel north of Yellow Bay at 0915MST. A crash at 1138MST also blocked both directions of MT-83 at milepost 87.4. For snow amounts, between 3 and 5 inches fell in the Flathead Valley, and between 1 and 5 inches of snow fell in the Mission Valley. |On the afternoon of February 18, a snow squall developed as the Arctic cold front caused temperatures to drop from 34 degrees to 23 degrees over Ravalli Hill, located south of St. Ignatius. This squall produced whiteout conditions and rapid icing as snow accumulated on road surfaces that were previously above freezing. Multiple high-impact accidents were reported along US-93, including a head-on collision at 1550MST near mile marker 11 and a multi-vehicle crash at 1831MST that blocked both lanes between mile markers 26 and 29 on Ravalli Hill. Observers reported semi-trucks sliding sideways and traffic backed up for over half an hour on the icy grade of Ravalli Hill.

Snow showers combined with breezy south winds less than 20 mph brought slick conditions and low visibility to the Butte area. These conditions led to multiple injury crashes on I-15 and I-90. Incidents included a crash with injuries just west of Butte on I-90 between 1330MST and 1430MST, and three injury crashes on I-15 just inside Silver Bow County between 1400MST and 1500MST.