The Brutal TRUTH About Montana Winters 

My favorite Montana winter activity is traveling to Arizona.

I lived in Great Falls, Montana in 1968 during the worst winter in 65 years! It was -35 degrees for about 3 weeks and -47 degrees for over a week! It was the first time I saw any real ice problems in the 4 years I lived there. Usually, the snow was so dry you could just sweep it away. Often, a Chinook wind would come & zero degrees in the morning would become 50 degrees by noon! I had moved there from Oklahoma and found the dryness a big change in how temperatures feel. In Oklahoma, -14 degrees could feel very much like -30 because of the ice & moisture. We once had an icicle over 6 feet long hanging from our roof and a snow drift over 8 feet tall in our front yard! Even in Montana’s worst winter, I never saw that! That winter was bad enough that someone started making tee shirts and certificates stating that they were survivors of Montana’s worst winter in 65 years! I learned to dress in layers and walked a mile to high school in that weather. Lucky for me, it wasn’t windy. Still, Montana is a beautiful state. My mind holds beautiful pictures of both the prairie side and the western side. Glacier National Park is gorgeous. The Bitterroot valley is gorgeous. I don’t remember any part of that State that wasn’t beautiful, prairie or mountains. But the winter is about 9 long months! 2 week spring, 2 week fall & 2 months of summer! With a Chinook, you might be able to stretch it with an “Indian Summer”! But when you see a big harvest moon glistening over a field of snow and stars in the sky, or the northern lights waving ribbons of colored lights across the night sky, winter ain’t so bad! That winter, when we actually had ice, my neighbor’s weeping birch tree had a coating of ice on it as it stood above the snow covered ground on a bright sunny day and looked like a frozen fountain in a bed of diamonds! It was glorious! When you’re in the Rockies, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to Heaven! 3/4 of the state is high prairie. Nothing but Earth and sky. That’s probably why they call it Big Sky Country. Montana is definitely the place to see. I loved my 4 years there.

In Montana, we have 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad skiing. It can always snow here and probably will - I've seen it snow every month of the year. Fourth of July snowfall is not uncommon - especially in Bozeman. When I was a teen, I actually milked a cow at -55. At least that's what the barn thermometer said. All I know is, the walk from the barn to the house was about 30 yards. A layer of ice had formed on the milk by the time I got it to the house. This was north of Malta around thanksgiving.

You make great videos love them!!

Thank you so much for sharing this video

Yes it is VERY VERY COLD here we had about 21 people die last year because of the cold… I recommend staying where you are at or looking for another state to move to.

The numbers aren’t going to mean anything. No one knows the difference between “freezing” which is 0’ and below that unless they’ve lived it. Let me put it more simply. At 15’ below zero, which it can stay for weeks in a Montana Winter…. It HURTS to go outside. Yep…. Actually painful. And if you get stuck in a place without traffic and have to walk very far in those temperatures, you may not make it.

you can try to explain...but unless you FEEL how cold it is for yourself it's not possible to fathom. It is downright miserable and physically hurts to be outside for more than a minute in the extreme low temps that last for WEEKS at a time. The fact that after a gnarly cold snap of negative 30s and 40s (not counting wind chill) we consider negative single digits or low single digits "warming up'" and people make comments about how warm it is. No joke. It's freaking insane.

I decided to live in New Mexico. I’m not a winter person.

Amigo will be nice to have horse trails with cabin stations in the mountains old school style that will be beautiful really plus 4x4 trails like horse trails with cabins stations big money out there really in my opinion that will take everyone out to camp in the mountains eat etc have fun and be out the house in the weekends plus will be healthy to everyone mentally and physically all other things is more for city people really I'm talking about memories that will be real nice special with all that mountains and views and snow woow you guys should build a empire a lot of people love horse trails and 4x4 trails man man if I had the money I will make montana a gd mine really amigo

Do anyone know do it gets real cold In Montana do it snow alot I. Montana?

-65 right before Christmas :) Enjoy!

He doesn't exaggerate, west of the Continental Divide in Montana it gets cold and snowy...... -30 or -40 is the norm . Montana has a lot to offer but winter here are long. any activity that you enjoy breaks the boredom.

No, I don't think I'm moving to Montana lol, coming from Sunny Cali.

And I thought it got cold where I live in the country side in Østerdalen, Norway 🇳🇴, when it can be - 15-26 degrees celsius. 😊

It’s not how cold it gets BUT how long is the winter? If it’s over by March, then it’s good.

I like sledding.

That’s it?! Look for a guy with a tee shirt on in December, that’s me.

It is not that much snow actually. In the northern french Alps Avoriaz get 295 inches per year, Megève 78 inches, On average at 6561ft the northern french Alps get between 196 to 314 inches per year while the southern french Alps gets between 137 and 216 inches per year. At the same height the French Pyrénées will get between 39 and 157 inched per year. The ski resort of Font-Romeu got an average of 177 inches per year between 2012-2020 with a massive 433 inches during the 2013-2014 season. PS: I loved your video! ^_____^

NY is about the same, but we get way more snow from the Great Lakes

He forgot to mention that housing is in extremely short supply and prices have skyrocketed. In other words - We are FULL.

I love ice skating

I’m from Alberta and I’ve been to Missoula before 😊

I actually thought about moving to Montana and I thought Northern Illinois has bad winters. Aside from winters Montana has Grizzly Bears Mountain Lions and Wolves to watch out for right? Oh my!

Maybe you should elaborate this is Western Montana!

I live in San Diego, so it’s going to definitely be a temperature change when we move to Billings Montana.

all above sounds nice hahaha

Hah. 31 below now

Get used to living in MT or being there😂😂😂😂😂

Stay out of Montana.. please. Respect Montana if you visit.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE. DO NOT come up here

You real estate agents need to find new jobs