Winter Weather — Eastern Carbon, Montana

2018-02-05 · Eastern Carbon, Montana

Event narrative

Highway 212 was closed for nearly four hours during the afternoon and evening on February 5th due to a fatal crash three miles west of Joliet. According to Montana Highway Patrol, a man was driving southbound and attempted to pass a pickup in front of him, but with whiteout conditions created from a plow further ahead, he could not see a car coming from the opposite direction. This caused a chain-reaction crash.

Wider weather episode

Arctic air at the surface, combined with a moist flow off the Pacific, resulted in an over-running event which brought heavy snow across the entire Billings Forecast area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 732556. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.