Heavy Snow — Little Belt and Highwood Mountains, Montana

2024-12-08 to 2024-12-09 · Little Belt and Highwood Mountains, Montana

Event narrative

USFS reports 10 inches new snow on average from the late PM of Dec 8 into th emorning of the 9th. Additionally, Snotel equipment at Stringer Creek, as well as a public report from Showdown Montana reported new snow of or in excess of 9 inches over the same timeframe.

Wider weather episode

An upper level ridge across the Northern Rockies was flattened by a potent shortwave over Dec 6-8 timeframe. Initially stout zonal mid-level flow was aided by a strengthening pressure gradient to result in quite a few strong winds gusts over the multi-day period. Adequate moistures resulted in locally heavy snow along the Rocky Mountain Front and into Central Montana by Dec 9.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1224623. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.