High Wind in Montana, January 7, 2002

Name: High Wind in Montana, January 7, 2002
Start: 2002-01-07T19:00
End: 2002-01-07T19:00
Location: Montana

January 7, 2002 · NWS TFX · 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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 7, 3:00 PM MST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 7, 3:00 PM MST, 4 hours before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MST MON JAN 7 2002

.SHORT TERM...CURRENT SATELLITE SHOWS A FLAT HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER
THE ZONES WITH A LOW PRESSURE TROF OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC. DURING
THE NEXT FEW DAYS DO NOT SEE MUCH CHANGE IN THE WEATHER AS THE
WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL KEEP LOW LEVELS DRY AND THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST VERY MOIST. CONDITIONS FOR HIGH WINDS NO LONGER IN PLACE.
7H WINDS DO STAY WLY AND NEAR 50KTS THRU 06Z TONIGHT...AND ALSO LOOKS
LIKE A WAVE AROUND 00Z...AND 850H WINDS ARE ALSO STAYING STRONG...
NEAR 40KTS INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. HOWEVER CURRENT WINDS HAVE WEAKENED
AND THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT WEAKENS SLIGHTLY BY THIS AFTERNOON.
A VERY WEAK SHORT WAVE GETS SHEARED ACROSS THE ZONES LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT...PROBABLY ENOUGH TO MENTION ISOLATED SHOWERS
OVER SOUTHWEST ZONES. AN UPPER LEVEL TROF WILL BE ACROSS WA AT 00Z
WED. AS THIS APPROACHES MONTANA THE FLOW SPLITS ALOFT...HENCE VERY
WEAK DYNAMICS FOR MT...AND WX WILL BE HARD TO GENERATE. BEHIND THE
TROF A SHARPER RIDGE WILL FORM OVER THE PAC NW AND NRN ROCKIES WHICH
WILL GIVE COLDER...NORTHERLY FLOW EAST OF THE DIVIDE...ALTHOUGH MORE
OF AN EFFECT WILL BE NOTICED FARTHER TO THE EAST. THICKNESSES ARE
PROGGED TO FALL TUE...THEN SOME RECOVERY AGAIN THUR. ZELZER

.EXTENDED...LATEST AVN IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM LAST NIGHTS MRF AND
ALSO THE PREVIOUS MRF OVER THE WEEKEND BUT IT APPEARS THE LATEST AVN
AND ALSO THE LATEST UKMET ARE TRENDING TOWARDS THE ECMWF RUN FROM 12Z
SUN. THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE AVN AND MRF CONCERNS A SHORTWAVE
LAST NIGHTS MRF DOVE SE THROUGH CENTRAL CAN SAT AND INTO THE DKTS SAT
EVENING. LATEST AVN ALONG WITH THE LATEST UKMET AND 12Z SUN RUN OF
THE ECMWF KEEP A RIDGE OVER CENTRAL CAN ON SAT. THESE 3 MODEL RUNS
HAVE ANTICYCLONIC NW FLOW ALOFT OVER THE AREA EARLY FRI THEN BACK
FLOW ALOFT TO THE SW EARLY SAT AHEAD OF A PACIFIC UPPER TROUGH.
THIS UPPER TROUGH SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE AREA ON SUN WITH COOLER
TEMPERATURES. LOW LEVEL FLOW SHOULD STILL BE DOWNSLOPE OVER THE
PLAINS SO PLAN TO GO DRY. ON MON SHOULD SEE CYCLONIC NW FLOW ALOFT
OVER THE AREA. AGAIN LOW LEVEL FLOW MAY BE DOWNSLOPE OVER THE PLAINS
BUT WITH NW FLOW ALOFT WILL GO WITH SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS.
FOR THE WRN/SW MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS...SHOULD BE DRY FRI WITH A
CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE MOUNTAINS SAT NIGHT IN ADVANCE
OF THE UPPER TROUGH. SUN SHOULD SEE SNOW OVER THE MOUNTAINS WITH A
CHANCE OR SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE SW VALLEYS. EXPECT SIMILAR
CONDITIONS MON. BLANK

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF NN 044/055 035/045 032 13001
    NBNNN 048/034 050/038 050/026 034/020 030 11100001122
CTB NN 041/050 031/044 028 13001
    NBNNN 044/032 048/035 047/022 028/016 026 11100001122
HLN NN 033/048 030/044 018 13122
    NUUNE 040/025 046/028 048/025 035/020 032 11100002222
BZN EE 030/045 022/038 015 13122
    EUUNE 035/015 038/018 044/025 034/015 030 11100002222
WEY EE 018/032 012/025 010 13252
    EUUNE 022/002 030/008 035/015 032/005 028 21100003344
DLN EE 030/045 022/036 015 13122
    EUUNE 034/015 038/022 042/024 032/016 030 11100002222
HVR BB 040/052 029/046 020 13001
    BBNNN 048/022 042/033 048/025 033/018 028 11100001122
LWT BE 040/055 025/042 025 13001
    EBNNN 046/028 046/035 052/026 034/016 028 11100001122=

.TFX...HIGH WIND WARNING THROUGH 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE ROCKY
MOUNTAIN FRONT AND ADJACENT PLAINS

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Toole

When: January 7, 7:00 PM MST
Where: Toole forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Sustained winds at Sweetgrass of 35 KTS with winds gusting over 43 KTS throughout the evening.

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: 5276786.