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 Mar 13, 3:15 PM MST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.
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
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Note: not a high wind event but included because of $1000 property damage...due to an amateur radio tower being blown down and shingles being blown off a roof...both occurring approximately 10 miles north of Helena.
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, March 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: 5236597.