Name: High Wind in Montana, December 17, 2001
Start: 2001-12-17T09:45
End: 2001-12-17T09:45
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 Dec 17, 9:00 AM MST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 17, 9:00 AM MST, 45 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
900 AM MST MON DEC 17 2001

.SHORT TERM...ZONE UPDATE BY 10 AM...A BROAD RIDGE IS MOVING INTO THE
MIDWEST WHILE A BROAD TROF MOVES ACROSS THE EASTERN PACIFIC. SEVERAL
UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES HAVE BEEN MOVING THRU THIS PATTERN. THE
RESULT ACROSS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST HAS BEEN EXTENSIVE PRECIP WHILE
EAST OF THE CONTDVD THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN WIND. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE HAS
JUST MOVED OVER THE CWA AND WINDS SHOULD DECREASE AS THIS MOVES EAST.
WINDS ARE STILL GUSTING TO 50 KTS OVER BROWNING AND WILL LEAVE
CURRENT WARNINGS AS IS. COLD ADVECTION TODAY AND DESPITE THE WARM
START FOR TODAY THIS WILL KEEP TEMPS BACK A BIT...WARMING AGAIN ON
WED. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS ON TRACK. ZELZER

.EXTENDED FORECAST...AVN AND MRF IN DECENT AGREEMENT WITH DETAILS
FOR DAY 4. A SURFACE LOW MOVES TO VICINITY OF BUTTE EARLY DAY 4 AND
THEN SLIDES TO NEAR BILLINGS BY LATE AFTERNOON DAY 4. THIS GIVES CWA
A CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION. BY DAY 5 A POSITIVE TILT UPPER RIDGE
PUSHES ACROSS THE CWA AND PERSISTS THROUGH DAY 6. DAY 7 SEES A
RETURN TO NORTHWEST CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT. CURRENT EXTENDED FORECAST
HANDLES OVERALL SITUATION WELL AND WILL NOT MAKE ANY SIGNIFICANT
CHANGES. EMANUEL

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF NB 048/018 036/028 040 08000
   NJNBE 020/035 016/032 020/037 020/036 020 11232111111
CTB NB 046/016 033/025 037 08000
   NJNBE 018/032 013/030 022/033 020/038 020 11221111111
HLN BB 047/016 034/018 038 08211
   EJNBE 018/033 012/035 016/036 016/036 016 12232111221
BZN BB 042/014 034/012 036 08221
   EJNBE 018/030 015/035 014/034 014/036 014 22232111122
WEY EE 023/905 022/910 025 08222
   EJEEE 000/025 000/027 905/028 905/030 905 22232112222
DLN EB 035/012 033/010 035 08221
   EJNBE 017/030 008/033 012/036 016/036 016 22232111111
HVR NB 051/017 037/019 041 08000
   NJNBE 018/035 013/037 019/038 017/037 017 11222111111
LWT NN 046/017 036/020 038 08000
   NJNBE 022/032 013/035 018/037 020/039 020 11232111111

.TFX...HIGH WIND WARNING THIS MORNING FOR NORTHWEST MONTANA EAST OF
       THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE.

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, North Rocky Mountain Front

When: December 17, 9:45 AM MST
Where: North Rocky Mountain Front forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Reported by spotter at Babb 6 NE.

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, December 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: 5275279.