Ice Storm — Western and Central Chouteau County, Montana

2023-01-05 to 2023-01-06 · Western and Central Chouteau County, Montana

Event narrative

City of Fort Benton issued an emergency travel order. Most of Chouteau County had severe driving conditions and travel was ill-advised by law enforcement. Observer in Loma reported highly impactful freezing rain. Reported a half inch to inch of radial ice (averaging to about a half inch of flat ice) in the Loma area.

Wider weather episode

A compact weather disturbance brought a mix of rain, snow, and freezing rain to the area. Steady rain occurred across much of the area during the overnight hours of January 5th into the 6th. Great Falls experienced its greatest 24-hour rainfall amount on record for the month of January with the metro area and immediately surrounding locations averaging a half inch of rain. The rain transitioned to freezing rain for Great Falls and especially Choteau and Judith Basin Counties where the latter experienced a highly impactful ice storm. 100 miles of US highway were closed at the height of the event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1074782. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.