Heavy Snow — Little Belt and Highwood Mountains, Montana

2022-10-22 to 2022-10-23 · Little Belt and Highwood Mountains, Montana

Event narrative

Social Media post of 12 to 18 inches snow accumulation at Showdown Montana Ski Area. Additional snotels in the area reported reported 8 to 12 inches new snow for this storm.

Wider weather episode

An unusually deep longwave trough overspread the region from the 22nd through the 23rd, bringing ample Pacific moisture for an impactful winter storm. Initially, the thought was that mountain snow and lower elevation rain would occur, but as the event got closer, it became evident that snow at lower elevation would occur, which prompted the expansion of Winter Storm Warnings to lower elevations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1059543. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.