We’re barely a week after fall officially arrived, yet in some parts of the country, late September has occasionally felt like winter.
That was certainly the case in parts of the Northwest six years ago. On Sept. 29, 2019, parts of Montana, northwest Wyoming, Idaho and northeast Washington were digging out from a bizarre early-season snowstorm.
Over a dozen locations in northern Montana picked up over a foot of snow. The highest snowfall total was 48 inches (4 feet) in Browning, about 105 miles northwest of Great Falls.
Great Falls picked up 19.3 inches of snow, 17.7 of which fell in just 24 hours, their all-time 24-hour snow record, according to weather historian Christopher Burt. Those are snowfall totals they usually have to wait until mid-December to compile.
Montana’s Gov. Steve Bullock issued an executive order declaring an emergency in the state because of the severe early season storm.
High winds and wet snow broke tree limbs, knocked down trees and damaged power lines, causing scattered outages.
Spokane, Washington, had only its second measurable September snowfall in records dating to the late 19th century. Its 3.3-inch total more than doubled the previous record September snow event, there.
In western Wyoming, up to a foot of snow was reported around Jackson Hole. Snow even reached the valley floors around Reno, Nevada, the previous day.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
