1 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 Jan 3, 9:00 PM MST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 900 PM MST WED JAN 3 2001 ...UPDATES PLANNED FOR ZONES AND STATE... AS FOR HIGH WIND WARNING PLAN TO RIDE WITH IT EVEN THOUGH CRITERIA MAY NOT BE MET. LATEST WIND APPLICATION PROGRAM FROM 00Z THU ETA RUN HAS ONLY A PEAK GUST OF 44 KNOTS AT CTB TONIGHT. WINDS NOT VERY STRONG NOW BUT MAY PICK UP WITH SHORTWAVE PASSAGE LATER THIS EVENING. ANOTHER BOTHERSOME THING IS SURFACE CHART SHOWS MAIN PRESSURE FALLS HAVE MOVED INTO ERN MT AND SASK. UPSHOT IS THAT ALTHOUGH HAVE DOUBTS EVENT WILL OCCUR DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH CONFIDENCE TO CANCEL WARNING. LATEST ETA ACTUALLY INDICATES A BETTER THREAT FOR HIGH WINDS ON FRI RATHER THAN TONIGHT. LATER SHIFTS WILL NEED TO WATCH THIS. OTHERWISE WILL BE MAKING SOME CHANGES TO FORECASTS BASED ON THIS MORNINGS/THIS EVENINGS MODEL RUNS. IN THE SW WILL ADD SOME LOCAL GUSTY SW WINDS FOR THU NIGHT AND FRI. WILL ALSO DROP LOW FOR BZN FOR TONIGHT AS THEY ARE ALREADY BELOW FORECASTED LOW. BUT THEY SHOULD NOT FALL MUCH FARTHER. OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT WILL NEED TO ADD LIKELY POPS FOR THU NIGHT INTO FRI FOR THE MOUNTAINS. LATEST ETA HAS EVEN MORE QPF FOR AREA THAN THIS MORNINGS MODEL RUNS. SNOW LEVELS ARE QUITE HIGH OVERNIGHT SO MAY NOT NEED A HIGHLIGHT. LATEST ETA/NGM SPREAD QPF OVER THE NRN PLAINS IN MOIST WARM AIR ADVECTION PATTERN THU NIGHT. HOWEVER PRECIPITATION WILL BE FIGHTING DOWNSLOPE AT THE SURFACE. WILL LEAVE DRY FORECAST ALONE BUT CURRENT ZERO PCT POPS MAY BE TOO OPTIMISTIC. WILL ALSO BASICALLY REVERSE MOSTLY CLOUDY FORECASTS FOR THU AND PARTLY CLOUDY FORECASTS FOR THU NIGHT FOR THE PLAINS. DUE TO EXPECTED GUSTY WINDS WILL RAISE FORECAST LOWS FOR GTF AND LWT FOR TONIGHT SEVERAL DEGREES. BLANK EXTENDED DISCUSSION...AGAIN TODAY MODELS IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH ONE ANOTHER ON GENERAL WEATHER TRENDS AND ALSO SHOWING DECENT CONSISTENCY WITH THEIR PREVIOUS RUNS ON THESE TRENDS. MODELS INDICATE FAST-MOVING SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA FRI NIGHT. DOWNSLOPE SHOULD PREVENT PRECIPITATION OVER THE PLAINS SO WILL GO WITH MOSTLY DRY CONDITIONS THERE. THERE SHOULD BE DRY NW FLOW ON SAT WHICH WILL TRANSITION TO SW FLOW THEREAFTER AS UPPER RIDGE MOVES E OF AREA. QUESTION IS WHEN TO INTRODUCE NEXT THREAT OF PRECIPITATION. 00Z WED MRF RUN INDICATED A THREAT ON MON BUT LATEST AVN RUN IS SLOWER WITH NEXT SHORTWAVE AND ACCOMPANYING MOISTURE. TODAYS 12Z UKMET RUN IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH AVN RUN AT 120 HRS WITH SHORTWAVE STILL OFF THE W COAST MON MORNING. ON THE OTHER HAND LATEST NOGAPS IS FASTER WITH SHORTWAVES. HAVE OPTED TO GO WITH AVN/UKMET SOLUTIONS SO WILL HOLD OFF ON MENTION OF PRECIPITATION UNTIL TUE. BLANK CCF NUMBERS GTF NN 038/049 032/055 035 160000 CTB NN 034/044 028/048 032 160000 HLN BE 025/045 022/040 025 160001 BZN BB 017/042 015/036 020 160001 WEY BB 002/025 905/028 005 161101 DLN BB 022/040 020/040 022 160001 HVR NN 037/045 026/052 030 160000 LWT NN 037/045 028/050 032 160000
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Choteau airport...damage to large hangar doors at airport...damage to storage sheds and contents at country club just south of airport...Choteau 3 S G58kt at 0400 MST.
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, January 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: 5228861.