Name: High Wind in Montana, May 16, 2001
Start: 2001-05-16T15:30
End: 2001-05-16T15:30
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 May 16, 2:00 PM MST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 2:00 PM MST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MDT WED MAY 16 2001

HIGH WIND WARNING HAS VERIFIED AS SURFACE GRADIENTS TIGHTENED
CONSIDERABLY IN RESPONSE TO PASSAGE OF UPPER TROF. WILL KEEP WARNINGS IN
PLACE UNTIL THE 6PM EXPIRATION. ETA AND AVN IN DECENT AGREEMENT MOVING
UPPER TROF RAPIDLY TO THE EAST TONIGHT AND ALLOWING WINDS TO SLOWLY
SUBSIDE. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT SETS UP OVER THE CWA LATER TONIGHT AND A
WEAK H5 RIDGE MOVES OVER THE AREA THURSDAY BRINGING DRY AND STABLE
CONDITIONS. FLOW ALOFT BECOMES ZONAL THURSDAY NIGHT AS A WEAK UPPER TROF
MOVES ACROSS THE CWA LATE THURSDAY AND INTO EARLY FRIDAY. WILL MENTION
ISOLATED POPS ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST FOR FRIDAY MORNING. THICKNESS VALUES
INDICATE TEMPERATURES WARM A FEW DEGREES NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. EMANUEL

EXTENDED...MRF AND ECMWF ARE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH DAY 5. THEY
HAVE AN UPPER TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THE NRN ZONES ON SUN WITH AN UPPER
RIDGE FOLLOWING ON MON. THEREAFTER MRF HAS WLY FLOW ON TUE WHICH BACKS A
LITTLE ON WED. ECMWF IS FASTER BACKING THE FLOW ALOFT. TODAYS 12Z RUN OF
THE UKMET IS ALSO IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE MRF AND ECMWF
SOLUTIONS THROUGH DAY 5 BUT LAST NIGHTS RUN OF THE CMC AND TODAYS RUN OF
THE NOGAPS ARE FASTER WITH THE UPPER TROUGH THIS WEEKEND. WILL GO WITH
THE MRF/ECMWF SOLUTIONS. WILL START OFF WITH GENERALLY DRY CONDITIONS ON
SAT THEN GO WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS ON SUN WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE
UPPER TROUGH. DRY CONDITIONS SHOULD THEN RETURN MON WITH THE UPPER
RIDGE. COULD POSSIBLE SEE SOME CONVECTION BY WED IF MRF IS RIGHT IN
DEVELOPING AN INVERTED SURFACE TROUGH OVER CENTRAL MT. WILL NOT GET TOO
EXCITED ABOUT THIS AND GO WITH MOSTLY DRY CONDITIONS. BLANK

CCF NUMBERS
GTF BB 036/066 038/069 042 08001
CTB BB 035/064 037/066 039 08001
HLN BB 035/067 040/070 042 08002
BZN BE 033/065 036/068 038 08002
WEY BE 030/058 030/062 033 08002
DLN BE 034/064 037/067 038 08002
HVR BB 038/070 042/072 043 08001
LWT BB 033/064 038/068 040 08101

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Cascade

When: May 16, 3:30 PM MST
Where: Cascade forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Cascade 5 S 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 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, May 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: 5249963.