1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 May 6, 2:00 PM MST, 2 hours 12 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 300 PM MDT SUN MAY 6 2001 UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OVER EASTERN MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON CONTINUING THE MODERATE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE STATE. CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH AN AREA OF MID LEVEL MOISTURE DROPPING OUT OF CANADA KEEPING NORTHERN AND EASTERN ZONES MOSTLY CLOUDY. WILL CONTINUE MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES THERE THROUGHOUT THE EVENING WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS...AS SHOWERS HAVE DEVELOPED AT MEDICINE HAT AND WEAK ECHOES EVIDENT ON TFX RADAR. EXPECT CLOUDS AND SHOWERS TO DECREASE LATER THIS EVENING AS THE AIRMASS STABILIZES. OTHERWISE...PARTLY CLOUDY TO MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES TO PREVAIL TONIGHT AS A MORE WESTERLY ANTICYCLONIC FLOW DEVELOPS BY MIDNIGHT. WITH REGARDS TO WINDS...BREEZY WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS CONTINUE ACROSS THE TFX CWA THIS AFTERNOON WITH A WEAKENING MODERATE SURFACE GRADIENT. OVERNIGHT...SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE MOVES OVER THE AREA FROM THE WEST FOR DECREASING WINDS. THIS COMBINATION OF CLEARING SKIES AND DECREASING WINDS WILL KEEP OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES SIMILAR TO THOSE OF LAST NIGHT IN THE CLEAR AREAS. THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE AXIS THEN MOVES INTO IDAHO DURING THE DAY ON MONDAY...KEEPING THE AIRMASS MOSTLY DRY AND STABLE...EXCEPT FOR SOME UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE. THICKNESSES RISE AS WELL FOR A 10 DEGREE WARM-UP. A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH ALSO DEVELOPS SOUTH OUT OF CANADA FOR LIGHT WESTERLY WINDS ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. A SHORTWAVE TROUGH THEN MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY...FORCING THE RIDGE AXIS EAST OF THE CWA. THIS SHOULD BRING AN INCREASINGLY MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE CWA...BUT A WEAK COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE CWA LATE TUESDAY FOR WESTERLY DOWNSLOPE WINDS EAST OF THE ROCKIES AND DRY CONDITIONS. HOWEVER...OVER THE SOUTHWEST...OMEGA VALUES OF -1 TO -3 AND LIFTED INDICES OF 0 TO -2 WILL BRING ISOLATED SHOWERS AND/OR THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM A BIT MONDAY NIGHT WITH INCREASING THICKNESSES...WITH CONTINUED WARMING TEMPERATURES FOR TUESDAY. HOWEVER...THE WARMING IN THE SOUTHWEST ON TUESDAY WILL BE SLIGHT DUE TO INCREASING CLOUDINESS. COULSTON EXTENDED...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS AGAIN IN DECENT AGREEMENT FOR THE SHORT TERM BUT DIVERGE BY THE END OF THE PERIOD. UPPER TROF SWINGS ACROSS THE CWA DAY 3 BRINGING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. A WEAK UPPER RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE CWA DAY 4 PLACING CWA UNDER DRY AND STABLE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. BY DAY 5...ANOTHER UPPER TROF SWINGS ACROSS THE AREA. MODELS DEVELOP A SURFACE TROF ACROSS CENTRAL MONTANA DURING THE AFTERNOON WHICH SHOULD SERVE AS A SOURCE FOR CONVERGENCE. DAYS 6 AND 7 LOOK DRY AS AN UPPER LEVEL TROF DIGS ALONG THE WEST COAST AND BUILDS A WEAK UPPER RIDGE OVER THE AREA. CCF NUMBERS GTF UB 032/070 039/077 041 10000 CTB UB 028/068 036/074 039 10000 HLN BE 028/072 035/075 043 10000 BZN BE 024/070 032/074 041 10000 WEY BE 015/064 022/069 032 10000 DLN BE 024/072 029/072 039 10000 HVR UU 032/073 038/080 044 10100 LWT UB 028/070 034/076 041 10100
The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:07 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Reported by Air Force personnel assigned to missile site affiliated with Malmstrom AFB.
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, May 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: 5249952.