Record Snow Cold Slams Northern Rockies With Winter-Like Weather

(Reuters) September 30 2019 08:55 Midwinter-like weather clobbered the northern Rockies Sunday and into Monday making early Autumn feel like deep winter while as much as 4 feet (121 cm) of snow fell in places and hard-hit Montana declared a state of emergency to clear blocked roads. You have to go back to the 1930s before you find another storm like this this early in the season said Josh Weiss a meteorologist with the National Weather Services (NWS) Weather Prediction Center. A pretty good swath of the northwest got 2-3 feet (60-91 cm) of snow Weiss said. Its a pretty good storm. About 19 inches of snow fell in northwestern Washington state and light snow also fell in areas of California Nevada Wyoming Oregon and Idaho forecasters said. Another 1-2 inches (2.5 - 5 cm) of snow was expected by mid-Monday in spots with winter storm warnings in effect for western Montana and the mountains of northern Washington and northern Idaho. Montana Governor Steve Bullock called an emergency on Sunday after 40 inches (101 cm) of snow fell in towns like Browning forcing highway closures and a string of road accidents. Temperatures dropped to record lows in the 20s F (-6.6 C) or below on Sunday night across western Montana and north-central Idaho according to the NWS.