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The biggest winter storm of so far for 2012 is currently ongoing across Montana. A huge wave of Pacific moisture moved in from the Pacific NW and dumped impressive snowfall from Seattle, WA to Billings, MT over the last 2 days.

Seattle, WA reported 6.8" of snow at the Seattle-Tacoma airport and that is the most snow the city has seen since the 1980s.

Complicating the weather pattern is a surge of very cold Arctic air that has been lingering east of the Divide across Montana and stalled just north of Southwest Montana. Air temperatures along the high line of Montana have been dropping into the -20 to -30 below zero range and wind chills at times have been brutally cold between -25 and -45 below zero.

The warm moist Pacific air over ran the colder Arctic air and heavy snow developed in a line roughly from Missoula to Helena to Billings. 30 miles north or south of that line snowfall amounts were considerably lighter, however, those in the direct patch of the training moisture saw record amounts of snow.

Missoula set a daily snowfall record on Wednesday of 8.6" at the airport. There were numerous reports of 10"-15" of snow in the surrounding foothills near Missoula. Lolo 13", Alberton 11", St. Regis 12", Stevensville 12", Hamilton 11", Clinton 15", Condon 16" of snow on Wednesday.

As the snow progressed eastward over the divide it weakened a bit but still managed to dump up to a foot of snow on Helena, Clancy 8", and Townsend 2.5", White Sulphur Springs 4".

Billings also saw a record dumping of snow on Wednesday with up to 9.6". This is also in the top 5 heaviest snowfall amount for the month of January. Other snowfall reports from South-central Montana: Hardin 7", Wilsal 4".

Southwest Montana reported very little snow with around 1" in Butte and virtually no snow in Bozeman. There were a few noteworthy reports of snow accumulations: Wisdom 5", West Yellowstone 7", near Jackson in Beaverhead Co. 5", Townsend 2.5", Deer Lodge and Anaconda 2"-3".

School closers were reported across the state due to excessive snow and the combination of strong winds creating blowing and drifting and dangerous wind chills. Closures occurred in Missoula, too much snow for county school busses and numerous closures in eastern Montana: Colstrip, Lame Deer, Wyola, Hardin, Lodge Grass.

Yellowstone National Park has been reporting harsh winter conditions centered around strong winds. A report of 102 mph wind gust was noted on Tuesday on Hoyt Peak above Sylvan Pass. Snow and blowing snow also temporarily closed the interior roads to snowmobiles and snow coaches Wednesday night and Thursday.

Conditions will remain the same Thursday into Friday morning as the current over-running pattern continues and should weaken over the next 24 hours.Hazardous travel will also continue for most of I-90 and I-15 across the state, Advisories and Warnings are still in effect today into Friday morning. Warm air should begin to punch in from the SW and push the Arctic air to the NE. Moderating temperatures are expected by the weekend and forecast highs could rise into the 40s.