Montana, 2001

High Wind in Montana, March 13, 2001

March 13, 2001 · NWS TFX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 Mar 13, 3:15 PM MST, 0 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 13, 3:15 PM MST, 0 minutes before
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
315 PM MST TUE MAR 13 2001

FAST MOVING UPPER TROUGH RAPIDLY MOVES SOUTHEAST WITH MAINLY MOUNTAIN
SNOW TONIGHT AND WIND PLAINS. IT LOOKS LIKE TIME OF CANADIAN FRONT 12Z
OR A LITTLE LATER WITH ETA FASTER THAN AVN. DUE TO DOWNSLOPE WILL
BACKOFF ON POPS ON PLAINS TONIGHT...BUT INCREASE POPS FOR SNOW ON
WEDNESDAY. SECOND SHORT WAVE IN NORTHWESTERLY FLOW MOVES INTO AREA
WEDNESDAY NIGHT TO CONTINUE SNOW. SNOW FAVORED FOR NORTHERN UPSLOPE
AREAS. IMPROVING WEATHER THURSDAY AS UPPER RIDGE MOVES INTO THE AREA.
OARD

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...IN A GENERAL SENSE MODELS ARE ON THE SAME PAGE AND
ALSO SHOW PRETTY GOOD RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY. EARLY IN THE PERIOD A
PACIFIC SHORTWAVE SPLITS AS IT ENTERS THE WESTERN U.S. MAIN PORTION
DEVELOPS INTO A CLOSED UPPER LOW OVER THE SW U.S. NRN PORTION SHOULD
MOVE THROUGH THE AREA DURING THE FRI NIGHT/SAT TIME FRAME. EXPECT SOME
PRECIPITATION OVER THE MOUNTAINS AHEAD OF THE SHORTWAVE BUT NOT SURE IF
THERE WILL BE ENOUGH MOISTURE OR DYNAMICS LEFT TO GET SOME PRECIPITATION
OVER THE PLAINS. FOR NOW WILL GO WITH SLIGHT CHANCE POPS. THEN FOR SUN
EXPECT ANTICYCLONIC NW FLOW. IF AVN/MRF ARE RIGHT WOULD AGAIN BE SOME
PRECIPITATION OVER THE MOUNTAINS BUT DOWNSLOPE SHOULD KEEP THE PLAINS
DRY. UPPER RIDGE THEN SHOULD MOVE OVER THE AREA LATER SUN OR MON. NEXT
SHORTWAVE SHOULD ARRIVE LATER MON OR TUE. NOTICED THAT LATEST 12Z TUE
NOGAPS AND UKMET RUNS AS WELL AS 12Z MON ECMWF RUN AND 00Z TUE CMC RUNS
ARE STRONGER THAN THE MRF WITH THE SHORTWAVE. LATEST MRF DOES DEVELOP
UPPER LOW OVER ERN MT ON TUE BUT SURFACE PATTERN DOES LOOK DOWNSLOPE AND
FORECAST DOES NOT HAVE MUCH RH OVER AREA. IN LIGHT OF OTHER MODELS AND
MRFS 500 MB PATTERN WILL GO WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES AND A CHANCE OF
RAIN OR SNOW SHOWERS BY TUE. BLANK

CCF NUMBERS
GTF SB 032/037 020/042 022 163861
CTB SB 028/035 016/038 018 165751
HLN JB 034/043 023/043 025 163662
BZN JB 030/040 020/040 022 163662
WEY JB 022/030 010/035 005 167762
DLN EB 027/036 018/038 020 164441
HVR JB 032/040 020/042 021 164651
LWT SB 030/036 018/036 019 163872

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Cascade

When
March 13, 3:15 PM MST
Where
Cascade forecast zone
Measured
56 kt (64 mph)
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER

Power 6 SE spotter.

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 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, March 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: 5236591.