Alert archive / Montana / High Wind Warnings in 2026

High Wind Warning 1, NWS Billings, MT

January 5, 2026Golden Valley County, Sweet Grass County, Wheatland County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this high wind warning at Jan 5, 2026, 1:39 PM MST for Golden Valley County, Sweet Grass County, Wheatland County, Montana. It took effect at Jan 6, 2026, 8:00 AM MST. It was in force for 30 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
Jan 5, 2026, 1:39 PM MST (20:39 UTC)
In effect from
Jan 6, 2026, 8:00 AM MST
Expired
Jan 7, 2026, 1:40 PM MST
In force
30 hr
Issued by
NWS Billings, MT

Counties Golden Valley County, MT, Sweet Grass County, MT, Wheatland County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:36 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

Riverton, WY (KRIW), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 364 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, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 2026-01-05Temperature 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 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 2026-01-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 25 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
1627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 5, 1:20 AM MSTWind AdvisoryBYZPark, Stillwater, Sweet Grass59 hr

Nearby

High Wind Warnings in Montana, 2026Every high wind warning in 2026

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.