Alert archive / Montana / High Wind Warnings in 2025

High Wind Warning 16, NWS Billings, MT

December 16, 202515 counties in Montana; Sheridan County, Wyoming

NWS Billings, MT issued this high wind warning at Dec 16, 2025, 1:43 PM MST for 15 counties in Montana; Sheridan County, Wyoming. It took effect at Dec 16, 2025, 8:00 PM MST. It was in force for 33 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 16, 2025, 1:43 PM MST (20:43 UTC)
In effect from
Dec 16, 2025, 8:00 PM MST
Expired
Dec 18, 2025, 5:00 AM MST
In force
33 hr
Issued by
NWS Billings, MT

Counties Big Horn County, MT, Carbon County, MT, Carter County, MT, Custer County, MT, Fallon County, MT, Golden Valley County, MT, Musselshell County, MT, Park County, MT, Powder River County, MT, Rosebud County, MT, Stillwater County, MT, Sweet Grass County, MT, Treasure County, MT, Wheatland County, MT, Yellowstone County, MT, Sheridan County, WY

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:41 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Glasgow Intl Airport, MT (KGGW), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 276 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Glasgow Intl Airport, MT at 12:00Z on 2025-12-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Glasgow Intl Airport, MT at 12:00Z on 2025-12-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 170 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1665 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
78 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
152 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this high wind warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this high wind warning went out at Dec 16, 11:09 AM MST, 2 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 16, 11:09 AM MST, 2 hours 34 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 16, 8:09 AM MST, 5 hours 34 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

Everything else NWS Billings, MT issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 16, 3:05 AM MSTHigh Wind WatchBYZBig Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Fallon, Golden Valley and 9 more11 hr
Dec 16, 6:50 AM MSTSpecial Weather StatementBYZSheridan115 min

Nearby

High Wind Warnings in Montana, 2025High Wind Warnings in Wyoming, 2025Every high wind warning in 2025

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.