Radar & Elevation Maps: Exactly Where Rain Turns to Snow Across Western Ranges
By James H. Sterling
As the core low-pressure center drives eastward, the storm track forecast focuses directly on the Northern Rockies. Montana and Wyoming represent a radically different thermodynamic environment than the maritime coast. Here, continental cold air settles into deep basins, creating sharp frontal boundaries where moisture riding over the terrain triggers severe snow events.
Recent data from regional National Weather Service radar sites in Great Falls, Billings, and Riverton indicates a complex precipitation profile. In western Montana, valley corridors along the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers sit near 38°F (3.3°C) under steady rain. Less than fifteen miles away, pass elevations over 5,500 feet are experiencing rapid accumulation. Bozeman Pass and Lookout Pass sit square within the transition zone, experiencing alternating bouts of freezing rain, sleet, and dense snow pellets (graupel).
Further south in Wyoming, the Wind River Range and the Absarokas face an expansive winter weather advisory as cold northeasterly winds create powerful upslope flow. Radar loops show widespread echoes moving over the Bighorn Basin, where communities at 4,000 feet see cold, steady rain, while highway passes like Powder River Pass (elevation 9,666 feet) are engulfed in whiteout conditions with road surface temperatures dropping into the low twenties.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
