High Wind in Montana, April 1, 2003

Name: High Wind in Montana, April 1, 2003
Start: 2003-04-01T08:34
End: 2003-04-01T08:34
Location: Montana

April 1, 2003 · NWS TFX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A wind gust of 59 mph occurred at Chinook 11S.

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 happened

The episode as NWS TFX wrote it up.

A wind gust of 59 mph occurred at Chinook 11S.

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 Apr 1, 4:10 AM MST, 4 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 1, 4:10 AM MST, 4 hours 24 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
410 AM MST TUE APR 1 2003

.SHORT TERM...UNSETTLED PATTERN DURING THE PERIOD. MOIST SW
FLOW ALOFT WILL EXTEND FROM TODAY THROUGH WED NIGHT AS UPPER TROUGH
APPROACHES THE WEST COAST TONIGHT THEN MOVES INLAND WED. GFS HAS FLOW
TURNING MORE WLY ON THU. AT THE SURFACE DOWNSLOPE GRADIENTS OVER
THE PLAINS OF LATE WILL TURN TO UPSLOPE TODAY THEN CONTINUE INTO
THURSDAY. FOR TODAY LATEST MESOETA HAS BACKED OFF ON SWATH OF
HIGHER QPF OVER THE CENTRAL ZONES BUT STILL WILL GO AHEAD AND ISSUE
A SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 5000 FEET. SNOW IS ASSOCIATED WITH A
SURFACE LOW AND SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH SRN MT TODAY. SNOW LEVELS
SHOULD LOWER TO NEAR 5000 FEET THIS MORNING. DO NOT SEE ENOUGH QPF TO
JUSTIFY A HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS. DRIER AIR ALOFT WILL
MOVE ACROSS THE N TONIGHT BUT THEN MORE MOISTURE MOVES UP OVER THE
AREA FROM THE S LATER TONIGHT. MESOETA HAS INDICATED PRETTY HIGH
QPF OVER THE SE MOUNTAINS. DAY SHIFT WILL WANT TO TAKE A CLOSER
LOOK AT THIS. MODELS AGAIN ARE NOT IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT ON
SHORTWAVE DETAILS. WILL TEND TO BROADBRUSH LIKELY POPS IN THE S
THROUGH WED NIGHT WITH CHANCE POPS FARTHER N. TODAY PRECIPITATION
OVER THE PLAINS WILL BE RAIN BUT WITH COLDER AIR FROM CANADA MOVING
IN PRECIPITATION WILL BE SNOW LATER TONIGHT THROUGH THU. SW VALLEYS
SHOULD SEE A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW. ANOTHER INGREDIENT TO ADD TO THE
TYPE OF PRECIPITATION POT OVER SW MT WILL BE THUNDERSTORMS.
ALTHOUGH CHANCE OF THEM OCCURRING IS RATHER REMOTE WITH LIFTED
INDICES NEAR ZERO ALONG WITH LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE AND SHORTWAVE
ACTIVITY..CAN NOT RULE THEM OUT SO WILL MENTION A THREAT IN THE
ZONES. BLANK

.EXTENDED...UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FRIDAY WILL
SLOWLY PROGRESS OVER THE STATE THIS WEEKEND AND MAKE ITS WAY INTO
THE NORTHERN PLAINS MONDAY. SHORT WAVES ROTATING AROUND THE LOW WILL
BRING PERIODS OF RAIN AND SNOW TO THE REGION INTO SUNDAY. CHANCE FOR
PRECIPITATION DECREASES MONDAY AS THE TROUGH PROGRESSES
EAST...HOWEVER WONT RULE OUT THE CHANCE OF AFTERNOON SHOWERS DUE TO
NORTHWEST FLOW AND COLD AIR ALOFT. MEIER

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF RC 052/028 040/022 040 04755
    EEEEE 022/043 020/040 022/042 025/044 025 5422133332
CTB CS 046/025 038/018 036 04536
    EEEEE 017/037 018/034 018/040 023/041 023 6422133331
HLN RS 051/031 045/026 043 04845
    EEEEE 023/043 022/042 026/046 026/047 026 6433133333
BZN RO 055/032 049/023 044 04766
    EEEEE 023/041 023/040 024/045 022/045 022 6422333333
WEY SS 045/022 038/015 032 04798
    SESEE 023/031 021/033 022/031 018/037 018 7555555445
DLN OO 051/029 048/026 044 04746
    EEEEE 023/041 022/041 021/046 022/045 022 4333333333
HVR CE 048/028 036/022 034 04544
    EEEEE 018/043 017/039 021/043 022/045 022 5322133331
LWT RS 051/030 038/020 036 04866
    EEEEE 020/043 022/039 021/040 022/043 022 6422133332

.TFX...SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 5000 FEET TODAY AND THIS EVENING
CENTRAL MONTNANA (ZONES 12..14..50>54).

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Blaine

When: April 1, 8:34 AM MST
Where: Blaine forecast zone
Measured: 51 kt (59 mph) measured gust
Reported by: TRAINED 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

Every storm in Montana in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, April 2003

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: 5348098.