Winter Storm — Southwestern Yellowstone, Montana

2020-10-17 to 2020-10-19 · Southwestern Yellowstone, Montana

Event narrative

Snowfall of 11 to 16 inches, along with some freezing rain, was reported across the area which resulted in slick roads and some accidents. In addition, multiple trees were downed along with some power outages reported across the Billings area due to the heavy, wet snow.

Wider weather episode

An early season arctic airmass arrived into the Billings Forecast Area during the 3rd week of the month. At the same time, a very strong upper level disturbance within an unstable northwest flow aloft was situated over south central Montana and northern Wyoming. The combination of these factors brought heavy, wet snow to a large portion of the forecast area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 922067. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.