Heavy Snows Fall From Southwest to Rockies as Montana Turns Chilly

Snow extended from the Southwest through the Rockies and across the northern Plains on Friday, with up to 30 inches in Utah, while bitterly cold air pushed into Montana.

Snow continued to fall over sections of the southern Colorado Plateau, the northern and central Rockies, the central Plains and the upper Mississippi Valley.

Heavy snow blanketed parts of Utah, with 30 inches recorded at Huntington Canyon, 24 inches at Powder Mountain, 18 at Soldiers Summit, 17 at Sundance and 12 at Orderville, Clear Creek Mountain, Sardine and Park West, the National Weather Service reported.

The mountains of southwest Colorado also received large amounts of snow. Wolf Creek reported 18 inches in seven hours. Other mountain areas reported up to 15 inches. In the Four Corners and Gunnison Valley, six inches of snow fell.

Snow also fell on northern Arizona. Three inches was reported at Grand Canyon Airport, and Flagstaff had about three inches.

Snowfall reports from northern Minnesota included five inches northwest of Thief River Falls and two inches at Bagley. Elsewhere, snow fell across northern Maine.

A high pressure system over Alberta, Canada, pumped cold air into Montana. Afternoon temperatures over north-central and eastern Montana were in the single digits, with some locations reporting below-zero readings. The cold combined with brisk northwesterly winds to produce wind chills of 15 to 30 below zero.

Lows also dropped below zero over parts of Wyoming, Colorado and northern Minnesota.