Story by: Nick Austin, Director of Weather Analytics and Senior Meteorologist @ FreightWaves I

For the past two days, a major early season storm has been dumping huge amounts of snow in the northern Rockies and northern Great Plains in the U.S., and causing road closures and power outages in southern Canada.

Parts of Montana like West Yellowstone, Lewistown, Homestake Pass, Helena and Pony got blanketed with 12 to 18 inches of snow. Yesterday, October 10, daily snowfall records were set at the Bismarck Airport (ICAO: BIS) – 7.1 inches – and at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Rapid City – 2.7 inches. And there’s a lot more snow where that came from. On average, over the past 30 years, these cities have seen only a trace of snow on a given mid-October day.

For the past two days, a major early season storm has been dumping huge amounts of snow in the northern Rockies and northern Great Plains. Parts of Montana like West Yellowstone, Lewistown, Homestake Pass, Helena and Pony got blanketed with 12 to 18 inches of snow. Yesterday, October 10, daily snowfall records were set at the Bismarck Airport (ICAO: BIS) – 7.1 inches – and at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Rapid City – 2.7 inches. And there’s a lot more snow where that came from. On average, over the past 30 years, these cities have seen only a trace of snow on a given mid-October day.

SONAR Critical Events: Snowstorm outlook as of Friday, October 11, 10:00 a.m. EDT

The historic early season snowstorm continues its journey across the Dakotas and the northern half of Minnesota today, October 11. Truckers should avoid this region if possible and either wait out the storm or go around it.

Shippers should expect significant delays on the ground and in the air since the storm will impact many interstates and secondary roads, in addition to several oil/petroleum facilities and airports in the region, including Fargo’s Hector International Airport (ICAO code: FAR). These are indicated by the red dots and “donuts” on the FreightWaves SONAR Critical Events map above which indicate a predicted “High” risk of supply chain disruptions.

Read the full story and the weather forecast HERE

Here's the latest snowfall forecast, (additional snowfall) from Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/lj0fTbjW75

— NWS Bismarck (@NWSBismarck) October 11, 2019

Source and credits: freightwaves.com /  Nick Austin, Director of Weather Analytics and Senior Meteorologist  /  iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski