Heavy Rain — Mineral, Montana

2015-02-07 to 2015-02-09 · near Henderson, Mineral, Montana

Event narrative

Heavy rain caused a rockslide on February 7th that closed the westbound lanes of I-90 west of St Regis, MT. Several hundred small rocks and boulders had to be cleared from the road surface. No accidents were reported. Westbound lanes were closed for 2 days as traffic was forced to divert to the north via MT Hwy 135 and MT Hwy 200, thus increasing travel distance. By the afternoon of Feb 9th, one lane, two-way traffic had been set-up, ending the interstate re-route.

Wider weather episode

An exceptionally strong atmospheric river brought up to 3 inches of precipitation and well-above normal temperatures to the region. Record-breaking temperatures into the 50s occurred in many valley locations. An unusually high number of roadway rockslides was reported.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.3480, -115.2900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 554468. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.