Name: High Wind in Montana, January 5, 2001
Start: 2001-01-05T16:58
End: 2001-01-05T16:58
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 Jan 5, 3:00 PM MST, 1 hour 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 5, 3:00 PM MST, 1 hour 58 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2001

EXPECT STRONG WINDS TO EASE UP SINCE COLD ADVECTION OCCURRING. WILL LET
THE WARNING CONTINUE INTO EARLY TONIGHT. BACKNG FLOW AND DECREASING
WINDS AT 700 MB ALL NIGHT. SOME LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS NORTHERN ROCKIES
TONIGHT. UPPER RIDGE BUILDING PACIFIC NORTHWEST INDUCES A SHORT WAVE TO
MOVE INTO THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST SATURDAY. HOWEVER CONTINUED
DOWNSLOPE SHOULD JUST RESULT IN SOME SNOW SHOWERS CENTRAL MOUNTAINS.
THEN UPPER RIDGE MOVING INTO THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY WITH
CONTINUED WEAK DOWNSLOPE PLAINS AND. SOUTHWEST VALLEY INVERSION FORMING
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. OARD

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...MODELS POINT TO FORECAST AREA BEING VULNERABLE TO
PACIFIC SHORTWAVES DURING THE PERIOD. MODELS ARE NOT ALL THAT BAD WITH
GENERAL TIMING AND STRENGTH OF SHORTWAVES INTO WEDNESDAY. LOOKS LIKE ONE
SHORTWAVE WILL BE OVER ERN WA AND ERN OREGON MONDAY AFTERNOON. ECMWF IS
SLOWER WITH THIS SHORTWAVE. LOOKING AT THE VARIOUS MODELS..SHORTWAVE
LOOKS WEAK ENOUGH THAT THERE MAY NOT BE ANY PRECIPITATION OVER THE
PLAINS WHEN IT MOVES THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/EARLY TUE. NEXT STRONGER
SHORTWAVE SHOULD MOVE INTO WRN MT BY LATE WEDNESDAY. IT COULD BE STRONG
ENOUGH FOR A MENTION OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE PLAINS. CONFIDENCE IN
LATTER PERIODS IS LOW WITH THE FORECAST PROGRESSIVE PATTERN. AS EVIDENCE
OF THIS COMPARING LATEST MRF WITH PREVIOUS RUN SHOWS SHORTWAVES FROM THE
PLAINS WEST INTO THE EASTERN PACIFIC ALMOST 180 DEGREES OUT OF PHASE.
WILL USE BROADBRUSH FORECAST OF SOME PRECIPITATION OVER THE MOUNTAINS
WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE PLAINS. BLANK

CCF NUMBERS
GTF NN 032/043 023/050 032 160100
CTB NN 029/040 016/047 028 160100
HLN BU 026/042 012/032 015 161100
BZN BU 020/038 005/028 005 161100
WEY BU 005/025 910/020 905 161100
DLN BU 022/035 008/030 008 160000
HVR BU 032/044 018/044 018 160100
LWT NU 029/040 017/047 020 160110

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Judith Basin

When: January 5, 4:58 PM MST
Where: Judith Basin forecast zone
Measured: 59 kt (68 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Geyser 6 E...Windham 2 NW 56kt 1457 MST.

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, January 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: 5228870.