Winter Storm — Eastern Teton, Montana

2019-11-28 · Eastern Teton, Montana

Event narrative

CoCoRaHS station mt-tn-3. 3 ENE Dutton. Air temp 8 F at obs time.

Wider weather episode

Blizzard conditions develop as a mesoscale band of heavy snow develops along a surface boundary emerging off of The Rocky Mountain Front. Temperatures drop into the single digits behind the boundary, while wind gusts exceed 45 mph at many locations. Mesoscale models place this band of snow right along the eastern edge of The Rocky Mountain Front, but it forms and becomes nearly stationary along, or just west of I-15. Snowfall rates within this band are expected near two inches per hour, resulting in 6 to 9 inches of new snow in just a few hours. Although not quite in the right location, most of the high resolution model guidance weakens this boundary late in the evening. The large scale upper level low responsible for this event becomes stationary over southwest Oregon. Embedded shortwave features continue to rotate over the region and producing nearly continuous, widespread snow through Thursday. Snowfall intensity decreases as the localized snowband weakens, but snow becomes generally more widespread. Snow-water ratios remain high, meaning this is a powder snow that will blow easily and cause reduced visibility and drifting problems across many roads with light to moderate winds. Winds increase across the region as the surface low tracks through southern Idaho on Thursday. Snowfall dissipates on Thursday night with shortwave ridging aloft.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 864949. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.