2 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 8, 2:30 AM MST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
230 AM MST SAT DEC 8 2001
.SHORT TERM...STRONG WINDS HAVE INCREASED ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN
FRONT THIS MORNING WITH GUSTS JUST BELOW HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA.
WINDS DO DIMINISH LATER THIS MORNING AND THEN PICK-UP AGAIN THIS
AFTERNOON. MODELS ARE SHOWING A WEAKER PRESSURE GRADIENT PATTERN AND
WEAKER 850MB WINDS FOR THIS AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...700MB WINDS ARE
STRONGER AND ARE OUT OF A MORE FAVORABLE DIRECTION THE WEST-
SOUTHWEST. BELIEVE THAT 850MB WINDS WOULD BE STRONGER IF WE WERE ABLE
TO MIX UP TO THE 700MB LEVEL...THEREFORE PLAN ON LETTING THE WATCH
EXPIRE AND NOT UPGRADE TO A WARNING.
WARM CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST TODAY AHEAD OF THE NEXT TROUGH THAT
MOVES THROUGH THE AREA SUNDAY. WILL KEEP THE SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW
SHOWERS IN THE FORECAST FOR SUNDAY. ATMOSPHERE LOOKS TO BE A LITTLE
UNSTABLE SUNDAY AFTERNOON BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. ALSO THE MESOETA IS
SHOWING A LITTLE QPF OVER THE EASTERN ZONES. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE
SETS IN SUNDAY NIGHT OVER THE SOUTHWEST BRINGING SOME COLD OVERNIGHT
LOWS. THEN FOR MONDAY A WEAKER TROUGH MOVES ACROSS THE CWA RESULTING
IN A CHANCE OF SNOW FOR THE MOUNTAINS. MEIER
.EXTENDED...BROAD TROUGH OVER REGION TUESDAY GIVES WAY TO CHINOOK
WINDS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. VIGOROUS WARM FRONT CROSSES THE AREA
LATE WEDNESDAY/EARLY THURSDAY WITH ANOTHER HIGH WIND EVENT POSSIBLE.
MRF PUTS TEMPERATURES INTO THE 40S...WITH ECMWF NOT QUITE AS WARM.
SYSTEM TO WATCH IS ON FRIDAY...WHEN MRF/ECMWF PUT A SURFACE LOW OVER
MONTANA. WILL LEAVE OUT MENTION OF PRECIP FOR NOW...BUT IF LOW SETS
UP FURTHER SOUTH SNOW WOULD BE INEVITABLE. WILL NOT TINKER WITH
PREVIOUS PACKAGE EXCEPT TO REFLECT LIKELIHOOD OF WARMER TEMPS IN SOME
ZONES FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. POMEROY
.CCF NUMBERS
GTF NN 052/034 038/018 034 12002
NEEEE 022/036 021/042 022/042 023/033 023 11122222222
CTB NN 047/027 030/012 030 12012
NEEEE 018/032 019/037 017/037 017/031 017 11112222222
HLN BN 048/031 037/018 033 12002
EJJEE 019/032 020/038 022/038 020/032 020 11144433333
BZN BE 042/025 035/010 030 12012
EJJBE 015/030 018/038 021/038 021/034 021 11244433333
WEY BJ 030/013 021/000 020 12135
EJJJE 007/025 010/032 015/032 015/025 010 23244444433
DLN BE 042/024 033/005 030 12012
EEEEE 010/030 012/038 018/038 018/030 018 11233333333
HVR NE 048/028 034/012 030 12003
NEEEE 012/031 010/036 018/037 018/030 018 11121122222
LWT NN 051/030 036/016 032 12003
NEEEE 019/033 016/039 023/038 021/035 021 11122233322
.TFX...NONE.2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Reported by Browning HANDAR automated observing site (along the border between zones 9 (Northern Rocky Mountain Front) and 10 (Eastern Glacier County))...55 kt gust (measured) also reported by Cut Bank ASOS (in zone 10 - Eastern Glacier County) at same time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2001
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: 5275286, 5275287.