Winter Weather — Gallatin and Madison County Mountains and Centennial Mountains, Montana

2025-02-15 to 2025-02-16 · Gallatin and Madison County Mountains and Centennial Mountains, Montana

Event narrative

Black Bear Snotel estimated 15 inches new snow over 24 hours. This was an isolated instance of heavy snow and was not representative of the entire zone.

Wider weather episode

A stout closed low over Manitoba swung a shortwave around its western periphery and then southward toward the Northern Rockies Feb 16. The wave stalled over MT, resulting in a strongly cyclonic flow aloft, while the main upper disturbance exited eastward.. This allowed for a long duration snow event that lasted into the 18th.

After this system cleared out, a strong surface high resulted in another period of extreme cold. This episode will also serve as the location for additional extreme cold highlights from June 16 through the morning of the 19th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1245084. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.