Cold/Wind Chill — Prairie, Montana

2024-01-12 to 2024-01-15 · Prairie, Montana

Event narrative

For multiple sites across Prairie County, temperatures in the teens to 30s below zero and breezy winds created intermittent periods of wind chills of 40 degrees below zero or colder from the early morning of the 12th to midday on the 15th. The peak wind chill of 62 degrees below zero was recorded at 4:08 AM, 6:08 AM and 7:08 AM on the 13th at the Big Sheep Mountain RAWS site (LCFM8).

Wider weather episode

The coldest Arctic air mass in many years settled into the region with widespread temperatures of 20 to 40 degrees below zero and wind chills measuring between 40 and 70 degrees below zero.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1153374. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.