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 Jan 2, 9:00 AM MST, 4 hours earlier.
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 900 AM MST WED JAN 2 2002 ...WILL UPDATE ZONES... .SHORT TERM...UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER WRN CONUS AND CANADA IS SHIFTING EAST AS A VIGOROUS UPPER SYSTEM RIDES UP AND OVER FRONT SIDE OF RIDGE. LEE TROUGH THROUGH ALTA AND CNTRL MT REMAINS NEARLY STATIONARY. ARCTIC AIR HAS BEEN PUSHED OFF THE FRONT RANGE OF THE ROCKIES...BUT IS STILL IN PLACE AT CTB AND HVR. EXPECT THAT ARCTIC AIR WILL REMAIN IN THESE LOCATIONS UNTIL LEE TROUGH DEPARTURE. EXPECT TRIGGERING MECHANISM FOR DEPARTURE WILL BE UPPER LEVEL VORT LOBE WHICH MOVES OVER HI-LINE BETWEEN 00Z AND MIDNIGHT. GEG MSLP METEOGRAM APPEARS TO BE BOTTOMING OUT AT 15Z. DOSWELL DEPARTURE MODEL FORECASTS ONSET OF DEPARTURE 9-12 HOURS AFTER NON-FRONTAL TROUGH PASSES THROUGH GEG AREA. THIS INDICATES THAT ARCTIC AIR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE AT HVR BEYOND 6PM TODAY. WILL NEED TO LOWER FORECAST HIGHS AND DELAY ONSET OF WINDS OVER THE PLAINS. AT THE SAME TIME...WILL CLOSELY WATCH ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT FOR HIGH WINDS. WILL NOT ISSUE ANY HIGH LIGHTS ATTM... BUT EXPECT IMMEDIATE FRONT RANGE AREA WILL APPROACH CRITERIA... ESPECIALLY NEAR TIME OF DEPARTURE. SW ZONES APPEAR TO BE ON TRACK WITH VALLEY FOG AND FLURRIES. MPJ .EXTENDED...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT AS WELL...WHICH MATCHES UP WELL WITH GOING EXTENDED FORECAST...SO WILL BE MAKING NO CHANGES. PATTERN WILL BE LESS AMPLIFIED THAN WHAT HAS BEEN OCCURRING LATELY AFTER SHORTWAVE TROUGH PASSAGE ON FRIDAY. UPPER RIDGE REBUILDS SOMEWHAT OVER PACIFIC COAST STATES SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY....WITH GENERALLY DOWNSLOPE CONDITIONS PREVAILING ALONG THE PLAINS. HOWEVER...NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL KEEP A CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS. WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVES INTO THE AREA ON TUESDAY...FLATTENING THE RIDGE A BIT...BUT NOT ENOUGH TO BRING PRECIPITATION TO THE PLAINS WITH DOWNSLOPE STILL IN PLACE. THERE WILL BE A BETTER CHANCE IN THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS WITH THE HELP OF OROGRAPHIC LIFT. WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES GENERALLY ABOVE NORMAL AS WELL. COULSTON .CCF NUMBERS GTF BN 037/026 040/024 033 10000 NBBBB 024/043 022/044 024/043 024/043 024 01111111111 CTB BN 039/024 040/020 037 10000 NBBBB 018/039 020/041 020/041 020/042 020 00111111111 HLN EE 024/016 028/014 026 10122 EBBBB 018/027 020/038 020/038 020/040 020 22111111111 BZN EE 020/010 029/011 028 10123 EBBBB 010/035 012/037 014/038 014/038 014 32222222222 WEY EE 022/904 028/910 022 10124 EBBBB 905/024 000/026 005/028 005/030 005 42222222222 DLN EE 026/015 030/012 027 10123 EBBBB 014/035 014/037 015/038 015/038 015 32111111111 HVR BB 022/012 035/016 031 10000 NBBBB 014/038 019/038 020/039 020/039 020 00111111111 LWT BB 040/022 042/016 038 10000 NBBBB 015/037 018/039 018/041 018/041 018 01111111111 .TFX...NONE.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Sustained wind speeds of 43 mph with gusts to 53 mph measured by the DOT automated road sensor in Two Medicine (2 SE of East Glacier).
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, January 2002
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: 5276784.