A quick system brought snowfall to the mountains of south-central Montana and strong winds down to its adjacent foothills, with snowfall amounts up to 18 and gusts up to 62 mph, respectively.
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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 BYZ wrote it up.
A quick system brought snowfall to the mountains of south-central Montana and strong winds down to its adjacent foothills, with snowfall amounts up to 18 and gusts up to 62 mph, respectively.
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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 23, 6:45 PM MST, 30 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
645 PM MST Mon Feb 23 2026
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Periods of strong winds along the western foothills lasting
through the week. Potentially dangerous crosswinds developing
Wednesday through Friday.
- Periods of gusty winds across the plains Wednesday.
- Periods of heavy snow over the Beartooth-Absaroka Mountains late
tonight through Wednesday; rain and snow showers expected at
lower elevations.
- Potential for a dose of colder air by the end of the week,
along with potential overrunning snowfall. High uncertainty
exists so monitor the forecast.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
.630pm UPDATE...
Most of the forecast remains on track at this time. Confidence
increased in mountain wave activity on the lee side of the
Beartooths and Bighorns tonight and thus the Red Lodge and
Sheridan zones were upgraded to warnings. Confidence is lower
farther north along the Bighorns for two reasons. The first being
that the winds will not be oriented in a way that favors the
activity that far north. Also, the FROPA timing has sped up and
therefore the window to even see anything that far north has
significantly narrowed.
Going into the full forecast package this evening the main focus
will be the the ongoing winds followed by the Wednesday
widespread strong wind in the foothills. The models are also
trending towards more of a snow event for the initial push of
precip Tuesday. Snow levels and totals will be closely looked at
in the coming hours, however, at this time it seems like Billings
may pick up ~1" with this system. WMR
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Through Monday...
Strong winds will impact most foothills locations this evening
into Tuesday morning. Strong 700 mb winds around 60 kts will bring
the potential for strong winds for the Big Timber area and Crazy
mountain foothills. There is still some uncertainty in how strong
winds will get due to model disagreement in what the PBL will
look like. Some models, such as the HRRR, show steep low level
lapse rates and deep mixing leading to stronger winds while other
models indicate a low level inversion inhibiting mixing and thus
leading to lower winds. This has been a persistent issue that
still has not been resolved among the models. Big Timber has a 60%
chance of getting a wind gust over 50 mph. Livingston has the
added component of a strong Idaho Falls to Lewistown pressure
gradient of around 15 mb bringing a 90-100% chance of getting a
wind gust of greater than 60 mph.
Mountain wave activity is also a concern tonight into tomorrow
morning. There are mixed signals for the occurrence and severity
of mountain waves. Mountain top winds of around 60 kts are strong
but not unusual. There is strong descent in the lee of the
mountains but there is no classic mountain top inversion. Overall,
the setup looks better for the Red Lodge foothills that for the
Sheridan foothills. Expect the foothills west of Sheridan to see
wind gusts in the 40-50 mph range with the Red Lodge foothills
seeing winds in the 50-60 mph range. Models such as the HRRR are
currently showing strong winds remaining close to the mountains
keeping any impacts to the towns of Red Lodge and Sheridan highly
uncertain.
A cold front will drop into the region Tuesday morning bringing
precipitation chances through early Wednesday. The initial frontal
push will be followed by a secondary moisture push early
Wednesday. Precipitation chances range from 50% for eastern
locations such as Miles City and Baker to 90% for all mountains.
Precipitation will be all snow for locations above 6,000 ft with a
mix of rain and snow for lower elevations. Mostly snow is expected
across the region Tuesday morning before switching to a rain and
rain/snow mix for the day Tuesday. Wednesday morning may see
precipitation change back over to snow. Warm temperatures will
limit snow accumulations for lower elevations. Lower elevations
will generally have a <20% chance of getting greater than 1 inch
of snowfall with foothills locations having a 20-60% chance. The
Beartooth/Absaroka and Crazy mountains can expect heavy snowfall
with the Beartooth/Absaroka mountains having a 60-100% chance of
getting greater than 12 inches of snowfall.
For the mid to late week period (Wednesday-Friday), strong winds
will once again impact the area as a strong upper level jet
remains over the region. Friday into Saturday will bring the
chance for a clipper system to bring additional precipitation
chances (50%) and cooler temperatures. Torgerson
.AVIATION...
Strong SW to W winds will continue along the western foothills
(KLVM, K6SO) through tonight, decreasing into the morning hours as
a cold front moves into the area from the northeast. Mountain
wave activity this evening and overnight along the
Beartooth/Bighorn mountains will bring moderate chances for strong
and erratic winds (SW to W gusts of 40-55kts) to the immediate
foothills, including KRED. Sheridan will see less wind from
mountain waves, but the potential for 20-40kts. Strong winds aloft
will bring LLWS to eastern areas overnight. The cold front will
bring moderate to high chances for rain/snow transitioning over to
snow for areas mainly south and west of KMLS Tuesday morning into
the afternoon. MVFR to IFR conditions are possible with the
precipitation, and mountain obscurations can be expected due to
the snow. STP
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 034/038 033/051 034/057 036/054 019/032 017/042 023/052
38/O 65/O 00/N 12/W 54/J 32/J 11/U
LVM 036/040 036/046 031/050 034/052 024/040 022/047 026/050
37/O 75/O 00/N 01/N 32/J 22/J 11/U
HDN 031/038 030/052 031/059 031/054 017/034 015/041 020/052
48/O 76/O 00/N 12/W 65/J 32/J 11/U
MLS 030/040 025/049 029/056 032/043 012/025 012/034 017/044
23/E 54/O 00/N 12/J 54/J 22/J 10/U
4BQ 032/039 029/048 031/055 034/051 016/031 014/038 020/048
15/S 46/O 00/U 02/W 54/J 22/J 11/U
BHK 026/037 020/044 026/051 027/040 006/022 006/029 013/040
11/E 35/S 00/N 12/J 44/J 22/J 12/J
SHR 029/037 025/048 021/056 029/054 016/036 014/042 020/049
16/O 58/O 10/U 01/U 44/J 33/J 21/U
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...High Wind Warning in effect until 6 AM MST Tuesday FOR ZONE
56.
High Wind Watch in effect from late Tuesday night through
Friday morning FOR ZONES 63-65-66-141-172-228.
Wind Advisory in effect until 11 AM MST Tuesday FOR ZONES
65-66.
Winter Storm Warning in effect from 11 PM this evening to 5
PM MST Wednesday FOR ZONES 67-68.
High Wind Warning in effect until 5 AM MST Tuesday FOR ZONES
141-172.
Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 11 PM this evening to
5 PM MST Wednesday FOR ZONE 171.
WY...Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 11 PM this evening to
5 PM MST Wednesday FOR ZONE 198.
High Wind Warning in effect until 8 AM MST Tuesday FOR ZONE
199.
&&
weather.gov/billingsPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Billings MT
402 PM MST Mon Feb 23 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1101 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 SSE Livingston 45.64N 110.55W
02/23/2026 M64 MPH Park MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTLRH Livingston River Hill.
1154 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 7 ENE Livingston 45.70N 110.43W
02/23/2026 M60 MPH Park MT ASOS
ASOS station KLVM Livingston.
0215 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 SSW Big Timber 45.80N 109.97W
02/23/2026 M54 MPH Sweet Grass MT AWOS
AWOS station K6S0 Big Timber.
1200 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 WSW Livingston 45.65N 110.60W
02/23/2026 M52 MPH Park MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTLWM 2.0 SW Livingston (MT
DOT).
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Billings MT
543 PM MST Mon Feb 23 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0441 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 7 ENE Livingston 45.70N 110.43W
02/23/2026 M63 MPH Park MT ASOS
ASOS station KLVM Livingston.
0500 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 6 SSE Washoe 45.07N 109.15W
02/23/2026 M55 MPH Carbon MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTM98 Ruby Creek.
0215 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 SSW Big Timber 45.80N 109.97W
02/23/2026 M54 MPH Sweet Grass MT AWOS
AWOS station K6S0 Big Timber.
0500 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 S Pray 45.35N 110.68W
02/23/2026 M50 MPH Park MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTM86 Emigrant E.
0245 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst Big Timber 45.84N 109.95W
02/23/2026 M48 MPH Sweet Grass MT Mesonet
Mesonet station GW0007 Big Timber.
1245 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 3 ENE Livingston 45.69N 110.50W
02/23/2026 M48 MPH Park MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTELV 3.3 E Livingston (MT
DOT).
0145 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 SW Springdale 45.72N 110.25W
02/23/2026 M48 MPH Park MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTSPD Springdale I-90 Mp
352.3.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Billings MT
645 PM MST Mon Feb 23 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0515 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 6 SSE Washoe 45.07N 109.15W
02/23/2026 M62 MPH Carbon MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTM98 Ruby Creek.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Ruby Creek gusted to 62 mph.
White Mill reported 18 of snow, and Fisher Creek reported 16. Winds were gusting up to 80 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, February 2026
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: 1321508, 1321507.