Great Falls was forecast to hit 83°F on Friday. By Saturday night, the National Weather Service expects snow, a low near 29°F and 5 to 10 inches by Monday morning. Montana’s first winter storm of the season is under Winter Storm Warnings from the Rocky Mountain Front to Butte, with up to 20 inches in the mountains.
The snow will be wet and heavy, and that is the problem for the grid. The NWS in Great Falls puts it plainly: the main impact will be “wet snow weighing down power lines and trees, leading to power outages.” Here is what to charge before Saturday evening, and what a power station can and cannot carry through a cold night.
- Charge everything to 100% by Saturday afternoon, indoors, while it is still warm.
- Bring the power station in from the garage or truck: the major brands do not let it recharge below 32°F.
- A 2 kWh unit runs a fridge about 15 hours, a 1,500W space heater about 70 minutes.
Where the warnings are (NWS, Friday, October 9)
Winter Storm Warning
- Great Falls and Cascade County below 5,000 ft, Judith Basin, Judith Gap, Meagher County valleys: 5 to 10 inches.
- Rocky Mountain Front, Southern High Plains (Choteau), Upper Blackfoot, MacDonald Pass, Gates of the Mountains: 10 to 20 inches, up to 6 in the Lincoln valley.
- Butte, Homestake Pass, Georgetown Lake: 3 to 9 inches.
- Big Belt, Bridger, Little Belt, Elkhorn and Boulder Mountains, Snowy and Judith Mountains: 6 to 12 inches.
- Conrad and eastern Teton County: 3 to 6 inches.
Winter Weather Advisory
- Helena Valley: 3 to 5 inches, gusts to 45 mph.
- Gallatin Valley (Bozeman), Canyon Ferry, Madison Valley: 2 to 5 inches in the valleys, 5 to 8 in the mountains.
- Missoula area passes, Seeley Lake, Glacier Park: 1 to 6 inches.
Most warnings run from 6 PM Saturday to 6 AM Monday. Temperatures fall into the 20s Sunday morning, so wet roads and wet lines will freeze.
Read from the NWS Great Falls and Missoula offices on Friday, October 9, at about noon MDT. Check NWS Great Falls and NWS Missoula for updates.
Why an October snow cuts more power than a January one
Two things line up this weekend. The snow falls at temperatures near freezing, so it is wet and heavy and sticks to branches and wires. And in mid-October, many trees still carry their leaves, which give that snow far more to hold on to.
The NWS has seen it before. After the October 2011 snowstorm in the Northeast, its Albany office wrote that outages “were the most widespread and prolonged in areas where leaves were still on the trees.” Add this weekend’s gusts of 35 to 45 mph, and broken limbs on lines are the likely failure, not the snow load on the wires alone.
Before Saturday evening
1. Charge it warm
Every current portable Jackery, EcoFlow, BLUETTI and Anker SOLIX manual sets the charging floor at 32°F. A unit that spends the weekend in a cold garage or a truck bed cannot be topped up there. Charge it inside, to 100%.
2. Keep it inside
Use is allowed lower, down to 14°F (Jackery Explorer, EcoFlow) or -4°F (BLUETTI, Anker), but a cold battery delivers less until it warms up. Indoors, you get the full capacity.
3. Charge the small things
Phones, power banks, headlamps and laptops from the wall, not from the station. Its capacity is for what only it can run: the fridge, the router, a CPAP.
4. Save the number
If NorthWestern Energy is your utility, its 24-hour Montana outage line is 888-467-2669. Other customers: save your co-op’s number now. Stay away from downed lines, even under snow.
What a 2 kWh power station carries through a cold night
Same math as our power station calculator: capacity × 0.85 ÷ watts. These are calculations, not test results. BackupPowerHub does not run lab tests (see our editorial guidelines).
Fridge
About 15 hours
At a 120W average; about 29 hours for a recent efficient model.
Wi-Fi router and modem
About 3.5 days
At 20W.
CPAP
About 31 hours
ResMed AirSense 11, 56W typical, heated humidifier on.
1,500W space heater
About 70 minutes
Heat is the one load a portable battery cannot carry.
If the power goes out
- Generators stay outside, more than 20 feet from windows, doors and vents, never in a garage even with the door open (CDC), with a battery-powered CO alarm inside.
- Never heat the house with a gas oven, a grill or a camp stove. They are a carbon monoxide risk indoors.
- Do not idle a car in an attached garage to charge a phone or the station, even with the door open (CDC).
- If you must drive, the NWS asks for an extra flashlight, food and water in the vehicle. Road conditions: 511.
Power stations that work in the cold
The charging floor is 32°F on every brand, so the difference is how low each one can be used. The BLUETTI Elite 200 V2 and the Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 run down to -4°F; the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max and the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 to 14°F. All four hold about 2 kWh. Live prices from each brand’s U.S. store; delivery will not beat this storm, so think of it as the next one.
Links to the brand stores are affiliate links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which models we list.
| Model | Capacity / output | Price now | Per kWh | Lowest tracked | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 BLUETTIElite 200 V2 | 2,073Wh · 2,600W | $899 | $434 | $849 (Oct 8) | Check deal |
 Anker SOLIXC2000 Gen 2 | 2,048Wh · 2,400W | $899.99 | $439 | $849.99 (Oct 7) | Check deal |
 EcoFlowDELTA 3 Max | 2,048Wh · 2,400W | $879 | $429 | $799 (Oct 8) | Check deal |
 JackeryExplorer 2000 v2 | 2,042Wh · 2,200W | $899 | $440 | $864 (Oct 8) | Check deal |
Prices come from each brand's US store and refresh automatically every few hours (oldest check on this table: Oct 12, 12:29 PM ET). Sale prices can change within the hour; the price in your cart is the one that counts. Prices, not coupon codes: some stores stack extra member or sign-up discounts at checkout.
Brand by brand cold limits, storage and the winter routine are in our guide to power stations in freezing weather.
Quick answers
Will Montana lose power in this weekend’s snowstorm?
The NWS warns that wet, heavy snow and gusty winds could bring down tree branches and power lines, with isolated outages possible from Saturday to Monday. NorthWestern Energy customers can report outages at 888-467-2669.
Can I charge a power station in a cold garage?
Not below 32°F. Current portable Jackery, EcoFlow, BLUETTI and Anker SOLIX models block charging under freezing. Charge it indoors before the storm.
Can a power station run a space heater in an outage?
Only briefly. A 1,500W heater empties a 2 kWh unit in about 70 minutes. Layers, sleeping bags and one closed-off room keep you warmer far longer.
Originally published: October 9, 2026