Montana weather

The year was 1873 – and that storm report is one of only a handful of historical headlines we could find that would be even slightly comparable to the winds that devastated Missoula last week.

While cooling rain heading into September isn't terribly unusual for western Montana, it is considered unique when it comes from a hurricane.

Blowing and drifting snow. Severe wind chills. What a week in western Montana. We have to go back in our own previous reporting from 2017, and way back in the record books and newspaper reports (1875, 1888, 1897 and 1899) to find anything comparable.