Billings didn't take a serious hit from the October storm. But some surrounding areas and the mountains of central and Eastern Montana were buried, forming the foundation of the season's snowpack.
"Pretty much in Eastern Montana, we're running above where we usually are this time of year," said Roy Kaiser from his Bozeman office of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Kaiser is Montana's snowpack guru.
He keeps track of Snotel measuring sites throughout the state and issues river forecasts based on snowpack.
"This is the best start we've had in the last four years," he said. "On the Yellowstone, we're seeing what we would usually see in mid-November."
Very early snowpack numbers show that snowpack on the upper Yellowstone River basin, which stretches from Yellowstone Park to Custer, is 170 percent of normal.
The lower Yellowstone, from Custer to the confluence of the Missouri, is at 169 percent of average.
The Smith, Judith and Musselshell basins are in the best shape, with 416 percent of the normal snowpack. Western Montana didn't start the snow season as well. Snowpack is 53 percent of normal on the Bitterroot and 31 percent of normal on the lower Clarks Fork.
Despite above-average precipitation in October - 1.45 inches compared with the normal 1.26 inches - Billings made little headway in a year-to-date moisture deficit of 3.36 inches. Just 10.09 inches of precipitation has fallen this year.
In October, measurable precipitation fell on 11 days. Trace amounts of snow fell on eight days.
October was made colder by winterlike winds, Meier said. Average wind speed for the month was 11.2 mph. The strongest sustained wind was 37 mph on Oct. 27. The highest gust, 44 mph, blasted Billings the same day.
Wind this time of year normally would be associated with warmer temperatures, but October again proved contrary.
"Most of the windy days last month happened on northwest-wind days, when the storm track brought cold weather from Canada," he said. "It was more typical of things we might see in December or January."