Name: High Wind in Montana, April 30, 2001
Start: 2001-04-30T18:00
End: 2001-04-30T18:00
Location: Montana

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 30, 2:00 PM MST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 30, 2:00 PM MST, 4 hours before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MDT MON APR 30 2001

MODELS HAVE BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH SHORT TERM SOLUTION. ZONAL
FLOW ALOFT BUCKLES TONIGHT AS A RATHER VIGOROUS UPPER TROF MOVES
RAPIDLY ACROSS NORTHERN MONTANA LATER TONIGHT. AS TROF APPROACHES
THIS EVENING...SURFACE GRADIENTS TIGHTEN SIGNIFICANTLY. MODELS
INDICATE 50+ KNOTS AT 700MB. WILL GO AHEAD AND UPGRADE HIGH WIND
WATCH TO A WARNING TONIGHT AND EXPAND IT TO INCLUDE HILL...BLAINE...
AND LIBERTY COUNTIES. DOWNSLOPE SHOULD INHIBIT MOST PRECIPITATION BUT
THE SPEED OF THIS FEATURE PUTS NORTHERN CWA UNDER NORTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT AFTER TROF PASSAGE. FEEL SOME PRECIPITATION MAY OCCUR AFTER THE
WIND SHIFT SO WILL GO WITH LOW POPS. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE
AREA TUESDAY BUT ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR MENTION OF ISOLATED SHOWERS.
COOLER AIR SLIDES IN BEHIND TROF PASSAGE WITH TEMPERATURES 10+
DEGREES COOLER. THICKNESS VALUES SUGGEST LITTLE CHANGE WEDNESDAY.
UPPER RIDGE BUILDS OVER PACIFIC NORTHWEST WEDNESDAY WITH CONTINUED
UNSETTLED CONDITIONS OVER THE CWA. EMANUEL

EXTENDED...HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO BUILD IN OVER THE WESTERN U.S.
EARLY IN PERIOD...AROUND A CUT OFF LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CENTERED OVER
THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. UNDER THE HIGH PRESSURE...TEMPERATURES ACROSS
THE CWA WILL WARM BACK TO NEAR SEASONAL NORMALS. WHILE THE RIDGE WILL
PUSH THE NORTHERN STORM TRACK WELL TO THE NORTH OF MONTANA...THE CUT
OFF LOW WILL HAVE SEVERAL EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES THAT WILL BE SWEPT
AROUND BRUSHING AT LEAST THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA. AS A
RESULT...SCATTERED SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED EARLY IN THE PERIOD...MAINLY
OVER THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS. SATURDAY...ANOTHER PACIFIC LOW PRESSURE
TROUGH APPROACHES THE PACIFIC COAST ENCOURAGING THE CUT OFF LOW TO
OPEN AND LIFT TO THE NORTHEAST. ASSOCIATED ENERGY WILL AGAIN BRUSH
THE SOUTHERN CWA CREATING SCATTERED SHOWERS...MAINLY OVER THE
MOUNTAINS. CURRENTLY...IT APPEARS THAT THE RIDGE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE
AND MAINTAIN ENOUGH STRENGTH TO STEER MOST ENERGY WITH THE PACIFIC
SYSTEM ACROSS CANADA...JUST BRUSHING THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA
FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS SUNDAY.

CCF NUMBERS
GTF WW 034/055 030/053 032 08232
CTB WW 032/052 028/050 028 08232
HLN WW 036/054 033/054 031 08432
BZN WW 034/055 030/054 028 08532
WEY WW 028/048 024/045 024 08542
DLN WW 034/054 028/052 028 08332
HVR WW 035/058 032/056 034 08332
LWT WW 036/054 028/052 030 08332

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Beaverhead

When: April 30, 6:00 PM MST
Where: Beaverhead forecast zone
Measured: 51 kt (59 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Brenner RAWS site.

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, April 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5249949.