When Winter Storm Bozeman rolled across the nation in mid-November, the storm’s namesake town didn’t get much out of the ordinary in terms of weather, but much of the nation got walloped.

The Weather Channel began naming winter storms affecting more than two million people during the 2012-2013 winter season. Though named unofficially as far as the National Weather Service is concerned, the Weather Channel’s decision to name winter storms was a hit. Like hurricanes, the winter storms are listed alphabetically.

“The naming program last year was a huge success, with well over a billion impressions on Twitter and regular use by numerous schools, agencies and media outlets,” Bryan Norcross, senior hurricane specialist at The Weather Channel and compiler of the list, said in 2013. “It’s simply easier to communicate about a complex storm if it has a name, which our naming program last year demonstrated. And good communications benefits everyone.”

Prior to last winter, students at Bozeman Senior High School were able to communicate their desires to be a part of the winter storm-naming process with success. The BHS Latin Club chose Latin- or Greek-related handles for the storms, and the Weather Channel used 17 of the 26 names submitted by the Latin Club for the 2013-2014 Winter Storm list. Two names were only slightly changed, and seven others had to be changed because they had either been retired by the National Hurricane Center or were simply too difficult for English-speaking weather junkies to pronounce.

Bozeman’s Latin Club also contributed names for the 2014-2015 Winter Storm List, and on October 1, some of the club’s members made it onto national television, as they skyped with the Weather Channel’s Mike Bettis during the announcement of the 2014-2015 list. It was then that the students (and the rest of us) learned that the second storm on that list, Winter Storm Bella, had been changed to Winter Storm Bozeman in honor of the Latin Club’s contributions.
“It’s really cool to be nationally-known,” BHS Latin Club Vice President Harry Schwem told NBC-Montana news. “I was not expecting [the name change].”

Much of the nation was not expecting Winter Storm Bozeman to pack the punch it did so early in the season. The storm struck on Thursday November 13 in the Northwest, and delivered dangerous snow and ice conditions from Oregon to Kentucky, with a trace of snow even as far south as central Texas. Six people died over the weekend in Minnesota due to icy roads, and in Lubbock, Texas, slick roads caused more than 50 traffic accidents, including three fatal accidents. Much of Oregon, where another fatal storm-related accident took place, came to a standstill in the early winter blast.

“Well, where do I start?” said Bozeman native Jessie Ball, who moved to Bend, Oregon about six months ago. “I missed two days of work because I couldn’t drive to work without almost dying. A sh*t ton of snow, freezing rain, then more snow on top of that! Then below zero temps...driving around here has been a nightmare, but that’s mostly because they have no idea how to maintain roads in these conditions in this state!”

Things were a little mellower in Seattle. “The storm itself did not affect things TOO much in Seattle, other than we had a day or two of relatively high winds (50 mph or so),” said John Long, who also grew up in the Gallatin Valley. “It also got butt-ass cold around here a lot earlier than usual. On the plus side, we had some beautiful ‘Montana quality’ blue skies for over a week! The crisp, clear days made me homesick.” Crisp, clear and cold also aptly describes Winter Storm Bozeman’s affect on its namesake city.

Bozemanite and up-and-coming national comedian Bubba Bradley had adventures with the storm worthy of a comedy routine. Bradley currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and he was back in Bozeman celebrating the release of his new CD “Save a Raft (Ride a Fat Kid)” with a party, and visit with friends. He headed back to Nashville just ahead of Winter Storm Bozeman’s reach--or so he thought.

“I left Bozeman on Wednesday,” said Bradley. “The weather was pretty good as I made my way to Minnesota for four shows over the weekend. I left Minnesota on Sunday to make the 800-mile trip back to Nashville--the weather was great for the first 600 miles. Then I checked my phone to see what the weather was gonna be in St. Louis, Illinois, and on through Kentucky, as that was the last leg of my trip.” What Bradley learned was that St. Louis had just been nailed by Winter Storm Bozeman, and Kentucky was next.

“Which I thought was funny because I had just left Bozeman, and now, 1,600 miles away, its about to put a hurting on my trip,” Bradley said. “They were calling for five inches of snow with freezing rain. I knew it was too bad to try and go on so I had to stop for the night.” When Bradley got up the next morning, the storm had already passed on, and he hit the road for the final 200-mile leg of the journey.

“The storm had came and went, but its remnants were left behind, in the form of a pile-up on the highway which had traffic stalled for three hours,” he said. “So what should have been a 12-hour trip turned into a 25-hour trip. I may have thought I was done with Bozeman for now when I left, but Bozeman definitely wasn’t done with me.”