Heavy Snow — Gates of the Mountains, Montana

2023-04-18 to 2023-04-20 · Gates of the Mountains, Montana

Event narrative

NWS employee observed 7 inches new snow over 12 hours ending 625 AM MDT 4/19. Storm total snow for the employee was 10 inches. Additionally, a public report was received of 8 to 10 inches on the northeast side of the Missouri River in the Helena Valley area, just inside the Gates of the Mountain zone. A COOP Observer in the vicinity of Adel had an event total snow amount of 22 inches.

Wider weather episode

A pair of upper lows became cut off over southern and eastern Montana extending south and east into the Dakotas and Wyoming from a negatively-tilted trough centered off the Pacific Northwest coastline. This cut-off low spun in place through Thursday the 20th. The result was for significant accumulating snow in eastern portions of North-central Montana, with additional heavy snow across much of the rest of Southwest and Central MT.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1093961. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.