High Wind Warning 32, NWS Great Falls, MT

009 
WWUS75 KTFX 251831
NPWTFX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
1231 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

MTZ311-260945-
/O.EXB.KTFX.HW.W.0032.260926T0200Z-260926T1200Z/
Bears Paw Mountains and Southern Blaine-
Including the cities of Rocky Boy
1231 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM MDT
SATURDAY...

* WHAT...West winds 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph expected.

* WHERE...Bears Paw Mountains and Southern Blaine.

* WHEN...From 8 PM this evening to 6 AM MDT Saturday.

* IMPACTS...Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines.
  Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult,
  especially for high profile vehicles.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around
or damaged by the wind.

&&

$$

MTZ302-303-308-260945-
/O.EXT.KTFX.HW.W.0032.260925T2300Z-260926T1800Z/
Northern High Plains-Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central
Pondera-Southern High Plains-
Including the cities of Choteau, Browning, Santa Rita, Cut Bank,
Heart Butte, Dupuyer, Bynum, Ethridge, and Pendroy
1231 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO NOON
MDT SATURDAY...

* WHAT...Westerly winds 30 to 50 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph
  expected.

* WHERE...Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera,
  Northern High Plains, and Southern High Plains.

* WHEN...From 5 PM this afternoon to noon MDT Saturday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile
  vehicles.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around
or damaged by the wind.

&&

$$

IG

649 
WWUS75 KTFX 260348
NPWTFX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
948 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

MTZ304>306-310-261200-
/O.EXA.KTFX.HW.W.0032.000000T0000Z-260926T1200Z/
Eastern Toole and Liberty-Hill County-Northern Blaine County-
Western and Central Chouteau County-
Including the cities of Lothair, Fort Belknap, Harlem, Shelby,
Joplin, Whitlash, Chester, Havre, Chinook, Zurich, Floweree, Fort
Benton, Galata, Devon, Carter, and Hogeland
948 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT SATURDAY...

* WHAT...West winds 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 65 mph.

* WHERE...Eastern Toole and Liberty, Hill County, Northern Blaine
  County, and Western and Central Chouteau County.

* WHEN...Until 6 AM MDT Saturday.

* IMPACTS...Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines.
  Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult,
  especially for high profile vehicles.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around
or damaged by the wind.

&&

$$

MTZ302-303-308-261800-
/O.CON.KTFX.HW.W.0032.000000T0000Z-260926T1800Z/
Northern High Plains-Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central
Pondera-Southern High Plains-
Including the cities of Bynum, Ethridge, Heart Butte, Dupuyer,
Choteau, Santa Rita, Browning, Pendroy, and Cut Bank
948 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MDT SATURDAY...

* WHAT...Westerly winds 30 to 50 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph
  expected.

* WHERE...Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera,
  Northern High Plains, and Southern High Plains.

* WHEN...Until noon MDT Saturday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile
  vehicles.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around
or damaged by the wind.

&&

$$

MTZ311-261200-
/O.CON.KTFX.HW.W.0032.000000T0000Z-260926T1200Z/
Bears Paw Mountains and Southern Blaine-
Including the cities of Rocky Boy
948 PM MDT Fri Sep 25 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT SATURDAY...

* WHAT...West winds 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 65 mph expected.

* WHERE...Bears Paw Mountains and Southern Blaine.

* WHEN...Until 6 AM MDT Saturday.

* IMPACTS...Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines.
  Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult,
  especially for high profile vehicles.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around
or damaged by the wind.

&&

$$

JR

443 
WWUS75 KTFX 261017
NPWTFX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
417 AM MDT Sat Sep 26 2026

MTZ304>306-310-311-261130-
/O.CAN.KTFX.HW.W.0032.000000T0000Z-260926T1200Z/
Eastern Toole and Liberty-Hill County-Northern Blaine County-
Western and Central Chouteau County-Bears Paw Mountains and
Southern Blaine-
Including the cities of Chester, Chinook, Hogeland, Shelby, Devon,
Galata, Havre, Rocky Boy, Lothair, Joplin, Fort Belknap, Zurich,
Carter, Fort Benton, Floweree, Harlem, and Whitlash
417 AM MDT Sat Sep 26 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING IS CANCELLED...

The threat for strong winds has ended.

$$

MTZ302-303-308-261800-
/O.CON.KTFX.HW.W.0032.000000T0000Z-260926T1800Z/
Northern High Plains-Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central
Pondera-Southern High Plains-
Including the cities of Dupuyer, Cut Bank, Heart Butte, Ethridge,
Santa Rita, Bynum, Browning, Choteau, and Pendroy
417 AM MDT Sat Sep 26 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MDT TODAY...

* WHAT...Westerly winds 30 to 50 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph
  expected.

* WHERE...Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera,
  Northern High Plains, and Southern High Plains.

* WHEN...Until noon MDT today.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile
  vehicles.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

People are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around
or damaged by the wind.

&&

$$

Brusda

165 
WWUS75 KTFX 261743
NPWTFX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
1143 AM MDT Sat Sep 26 2026

MTZ302-303-308-261845-
/O.EXP.KTFX.HW.W.0032.000000T0000Z-260926T1800Z/
Northern High Plains-Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central
Pondera-Southern High Plains-
Including the cities of Browning, Choteau, Pendroy, Dupuyer, Heart
Butte, Bynum, Santa Rita, Ethridge, and Cut Bank
1143 AM MDT Sat Sep 26 2026

...HIGH WIND WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT NOON MDT TODAY...

While breezy winds will continue through the afternoon, the threat
for gusts in excess of 60 mph has diminished. Hence, the High Wind
Warning will be allowed to expire at noon.

$$

AM

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
1145 PM MDT Thu Sep 24 2026

Aviation Section Updated.

.KEY MESSAGES...

- It will be warm and windy today.

- A cold front moving through the area this evening will bring in
  cooler air for Saturday, with snow possible in the mountains of
  the Rocky Mountain Front.

- Another Pacific weather system moves through the Northern
  Rockies and brings more shower activity early next week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...

 - Meteorological Overview:

Ridging aloft will begin to break down late Friday, but not
before unseasonably warm and dry conditions persist for another
day. A potent negatively tilted Pacific trough and attendant cold
front are poised to move through the Northern Rockies late Friday
afternoon through early Saturday. H500/H700 south/southwesterly
flow increases to the 30 to 50 kt range by Friday afternoon, with
some of this reaching the surface amid deep layer mixing. Surface
winds will be strongest and most impactful over the high plains
along the Rocky Mountain Front during the cold frontal passage
Friday evening. While it will be breezy to windy for
central/north-central locations to the east, there will be a
shorter opportunity for wind gusts exceeding 50 mph and higher
dependency on isolated shower and thunderstorm activity
transferring the stronger flow aloft to the surface.

There will be little precipitation of consequence with this
system; however, H700 temperatures quickly falling to around -5C
Friday night will initiate a period of light accumulating snow
over the higher terrain (above 6000 ft) of Glacier National Park,
including the Logan Pass area by Saturday morning. More seasonable
temperatures will filter in behind the front on Saturday, with
gusty westerly winds lingering over the plains through the early
afternoon hours.

Another Pacific trough looks to move through Sunday into Monday.
This one will be weaker with the core of the system's energy
staying well south of the forecast area. The primary change to the
sensible weather will be increased shower activity for
southwestern Montana and continued areawide seasonably cool
temperatures. Then a broad trough will bring increased westerly
flow for breezy to windy conditions heading towards the mid-week
period of next week. - RCG

 - Forecast Confidence & Scenarios:

Gusty to Strong Winds Late Friday into Saturday...

The primary concern continues to be strong winds associated with
Pacific cold front Friday evening through early Saturday. South to
southwesterly winds begin increasing in advance of the front
Friday afternoon with gusts mostly in the 25 to 35 mph range. The
combination of gusty winds with the unseasonably warm conditions
will bring localized fire weather concerns, although lingering
ground moisture will preclude widespread elevated fire conditions.

The cold front looks to cross the Continental Divide roughly
between 5 and 10 pm MDT. Strong westerly winds will be most
widespread and persistent over the high plains along the Rocky
Mountain Front due to the cold frontal passage in the evening and
then mountain wave activity overnight. There is over a 70% chance
for wind gusts exceeding 55 mph and over a 50% chance for
sustained winds exceeding 40 mph. Reasonable high end wind gusts
(90th percentile) will be around 70 mph, particularly for areas
along and west of highway 89 from Chouteau to US highway 2 and
then for areas west of I15 north of the Highline. With this in
mind, the high wind watch was expanded to include the Southern
Rocky Mountain Front Plains zone. Technically high wind criteria
is 75 mph for gusts and 50 mph for sustained winds for both Rocky
Mountain Front Plains zones, but the high wind watch seems
warranted given this is the first high wind event of the fall
season, trees being mostly fully leafed, and the amount of
lingering summer recreation traffic.

The stronger winds for central and north-central areas east of
I15 will be less consistent and more dependent on the dynamics of
the front and isolated convection to transfer the stronger flow to
the surface. Moreover, the temporal window of opportunity will
generally be less than three hours. Given these factors, I have
elected to hold off on high wind products for now.

There was some consideration given to extend the high wind
watches through Saturday afternoon with diurnal mixing looking to
bring another round of gusty winds; however, the upper level flow
weakens substantially and ultimately looks to diminishes the
occurrence of widespread criteria winds.

Glacier National Park Light Accumulating Snow Saturday Morning...

There will be strong cold air advection behind this front with
snow levels crashing to as low as 5000 ft along the Rocky Mountain
Front. The 90th percentile of snowfall of 1 to 3 inches seems
reasonable for areas of Glacier National Park above 6000 ft given
the synoptic setup. Impacts will be most felt for those recreating
in the park or for those responsible for maintenance late Friday
night and Saturday morning. - RCG

&&

.AVIATION...
25/06z TAF Period.

Quiet conditions expected the rest of tonight, with just some
gradual increase in surface winds. It becomes windy by this
afternoon, with strong surface winds likely over the western half
of North Central MT this afternoon/evening. A cold front will move
from west to east across the CWA this evening, resulting in a few
thunderstorms. Brusda

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
GTF  62  88  49  64 /   0   0  20   0
CTB  50  83  43  57 /   0  10  10   0
HLN  53  85  43  66 /   0   0  10   0
BZN  47  81  42  66 /   0   0   0   0
WYS  32  70  32  59 /   0   0   0   0
DLN  51  79  39  66 /   0   0   0   0
HVR  57  89  48  66 /   0   0  20   0
LWT  51  84  45  67 /   0   0  10   0

&&

.TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
High Wind Watch from Friday evening through Saturday morning for
Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera-Northern
High Plains-Southern High Plains.

&&

http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls