High Wind in Montana, January 12, 2002

Name: High Wind in Montana, January 12, 2002
Start: 2002-01-12T16:40
End: 2002-01-12T16:40
Location: Montana

January 12, 2002 · NWS BYZ · 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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 12, 1:54 PM MST, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 12, 1:54 PM MST, 2 hours 46 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
154 PM MST SAT JAN 12 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR SUN...MON...TUE...
WILL UPGRADE WATCHES TO WARNINGS FOR MOST LOCATIONS. 12Z MODEL RUNS ARE
POINTING TO A HIGH WIND EVENT FOR THE BILLINGS FORECAST AREA EAST OF A
BILLINGS/SHERIDAN LINE. SEVERAL FACTORS COMING TOGETHER...POSITION OF
STRONG TIGHTLY WRAPPED VORT...HOOKUP OF STRONG H7/H8 WINDS IN EXCESS
OF 50 KNOTS...EVAPORATIVE COOLING...UNSTABLE LAPSE RATE DEVELOPING...
STRONG SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT...AND COLD AIR ADVECTION. WOULD LIKE TO SEE
STRONGER PRESSURE RISES ALONG WITH MORE PRONOUNCED SYNOPTIC SCALE
SUBSIDENSE HOWEVER. TIMING WILL BE EARLY EVENING IN THE WEST...AND LATE
IN THE EAST CONTINING INTO SUNDAY. UPPER YELLOWSTONE HIGH WIND WARNING
WILL CONTINUE UNTIL COLD AIR ADVECTION HITS THEM...LESSENING GAP EFFECT.
INTIAL WARM AIR ADVECTION BAND IS PRODUCING SOME RAIN IN THE EAST...
LUCKILY TEMPS HAVE CLIMBED ABOVE FREEZING. THIS BAND WILL PUSH INTO
NORTH DAKOTA BY LATE AFTERNOON ALLOWING FIRST DRY SLOT TO CLEAR SKIES
OUT FOR A FEW HOURS. EAST TEMPS WILL JUMP UP LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

MOST PRECIP WILL BE NORTH AND EAST OF ZONES. HOWEVER WETTER AVN DID A
BETTER JOB THAN ETA WITH PRECIP EVENT IN EAST THIS AFTERNOON. DO THINK
SHOWERS WILL BE SPREAD OUT ACROSS ZONES TONIGHT AS VORT PASSES NORTH...
PER AVN. HOWEVER PRECIP SHOULD BE LIGHT AND MAINLY AID IN WIND GUST
POTENTIAL. WILL GO WITH SCATTERED POPS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY IN THE EAST
AND ISOLATED PLAINS.

GRADIENT BEGINS TO RELAX SUNDAY AFTERNOON...AND WIND EVENT WILL BE
TAPERING DOWN. NORTHWEST FLOW WILL GIVE WAY TO SOME WEAK RIDING
TUESDAY...HOWEVER ANOTHER BACKDOOR COLD FRONT IS PROGGED TO MOVE INTO
ZONES TUESDAY NIGHT. ANOTHER CONCERN IS TUESDAY...WHEN ENERGY FROM
LONGWAVE TROUGH BRINGS A CLOSED LOW SYSTEM INTO NORTHWEST WYOMING. FOR
NOW WILL KEEP POPS GOING FOR THIS FEATURE TUESDAY IN THE WEST AND SHR
COUNTY. COORDINATION WITH GGW/BIS/UNR/RIW/GTF. SCARLETT

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR WED...THU...FRI...SAT...

WED...NORTHWEST FLOW CONTINUES AS MODELS ARE IN AGREEMENT ONLY THROUGH
THE FIRST DAY OF THE EXTENDED. EMBEDDED WAVE IN NW FLOW MOVES SE
THROUGH MT DURING THE DAY. ALTHOUGH WITH NW FLOW AND LITTLE DYNAMICS
ASSOC. WITH THIS WAVE I DONT EXPECT ANY PRECIP WITH IT.
THU THRU SAT...MODELS DIFFER QUITE A BIT AND CONFIDENCE IS LOW.
THE MRF HAS A MORE ZONAL FLOW WITH ANOTHER EMBEDDED WAVE MOVING
THROUGH IT LATE THU PM INTO FRI MORNING WITH A LARGER WAVE MOVING IN ON
SAT. THE ECMWF IS SHOWING THIS WAVE TO DIG MORE TO OUR SW.
HOWEVER...BOTH MODELS SHOW THE SFC LOW FARTHER NORTH THAN IN
PREVIOUS RUNS. IN ADDITION...YESTERDAYS THINKING WAS FOR COLDER AIR
TO MOVE IN THU AND FRI. IT LOOKS NOW THAT TEMPS WILL STILL BE NEAR
NORMAL BUT NOT AS COLD AS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT WITH THE COLDER AIR
STAYING NORTH OF THE BORDER. THEREFORE...HAVE DECIDED TO BUMP UP TEMPS A
FEW DEGREES FOR THU AND FRI.  HOOLEY

    SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 033/040 022/031 012/023 020/033 025/035 025/035 024/037
    22/N    00/E    02/J    20/B    02/E    23/J    22/E
LVM 030/040 018/029 010/020 016/030 022/032 020/030 021/035
    33/N    00/E    03/J    22/B    22/E    23/J    22/E
HDN 031/039 020/032 008/024 018/035 023/036 021/036 022/038
    22/N    00/E    02/J    20/B    02/E    23/J    22/E
MLS 032/039 018/029 009/024 018/032 018/032 023/033 021/035
    33/N    00/E    00/E    20/B    02/E    23/J    22/E
4BQ 031/035 019/026 008/024 019/033 019/034 025/034 022/036
    33/N    00/E    00/E    20/B    02/E    23/J    22/E
BHK 030/038 016/025 006/020 016/030 016/030 018/030 018/032
    33/N    00/E    00/E    20/B    02/E    23/J    22/E
SHR 031/036 015/030 007/020 018/032 023/035 023/033 022/035
    22/N    00/E    03/J    20/B    02/E    23/J    22/E

.BYZ...HIGH WIND WARNING UPPER YELLOWSTONE VALLEY TIL 700 PM.
       HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA
       HIGH WIND WARNING LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY FOR ALL OF SOUTHEAST
       MONTANA AND SHR COUNTY WYOMING.

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Yellowstone

When: January 12, 4:40 PM MST
Where: Yellowstone forecast zone
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

60 mph non-thunderstorm wind gust at Pompeys Pillar

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

Every storm in Montana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, January 2002

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: 5279415.