Strong wind affected Phillips County during the evening hours of the 19th. The strong wind was associated with a cold front and upper level disturbance that crossed the area.
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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 episode as NWS GGW wrote it up.
Strong wind affected Phillips County during the evening hours of the 19th. The strong wind was associated with a cold front and upper level disturbance that crossed the area. Sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph were observed with a peak wind gust of 70 mph reported at a DOT site 35 miles southwest of Malta.
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 19, 2:45 PM MST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 245 PM MST SUN DEC 19 2004 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY... SHORTWAVE PUSHING THROUGH SOUTHERN BC WITH DRY AIR SINKING INTO SOUTHERN BC. SURFACE LOW OVER NORTHERN ALBERTA WITH WARM FRONT EXTENDING SOUTH. HARD TO PICK OUT DUE TO DOWN SLOPE LEE TROF AND REMNANTS OF COLD AIR LINGERING IN THE RIVER VALLEYS OF EASTERN MONTANA. WEAK COLD FRONT OVER CENTRAL ALBERTA WITH SOME CONVECTION. THERMAL GRADIENT AND PRESSURE RISES BEHIND THIS FRONT NOT VERY STRONG SO THREAT FOR HIGH WIND EVENT OVERNIGHT HAS DIMINISHED. WILL EXTEND LAKE WIND ADVISORY THROUGH TONIGHT AND DROP THE HIGH WIND WATCH. MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT...SECOND STRONGER COLD FRONT OVER NORTHERN ALBERTA DROPS INTO NORTHEAST MONTANA ON LATE ON MONDAY. MUCH STRONGER PRESSURE RISES BEHIND THIS FRONT BUT STILL UNCERTAIN ABOUT MIXING POTENTIAL AHEAD OF THE FRONT AS COLD AIR ADVECTION NOT STRONG UNTIL FRONT PASSES THROUGH. WILL KEEP HIGH WIND WATCH FOR MONDAY. WARM AIR ALOFT WRAPS AROUND THE LOW INTO THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF MONTANA BEHIND THE FRONTAL PASSAGE. MOISTURE ALSO WITH THE WARM AIR SO BETTER CHANCE OF SNOW WITH THIS STRONGER FRONT. BEHIND THE FRONT...UPSLOPE WIND COMPONENT WILL KEEP CHANCE OF SNOW GOING OVERNIGHT. TUESDAY...MUCH COLDER AIR FINALLY OVER NORTHEAST MONTANA. ARCTIC FRONT HANGS UP OVER CENTRAL MONTANA SO EXPECT TYPICAL TEMPERATURE GRADIENT ACROSS THE REGION...WARMER SOUTHWEST...COLDER NORTHEAST. EBERT .AVIATION...WIND AND MORE WIND WILL BE THE AVIATION ISSUE FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS. WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS IN THE 30 TO 90 MPH RANGE FROM THE SURFACE THROUGH THE TROPOPAUSE. CURRENT AWC AIRMET DOES CAPTURE THE TURBULENCE ISSUES OVER EASTERN MONTANA. FRANSEN .LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY... CONFIDENCE IS LOWER THAN NORMAL THROUGH THE FIRST PORTION OF THE EXTENDED...ESPECIALLY WITH TEMPERATURES. ARCTIC OUTBREAK POISED TO AFFECT PORTIONS OF NORTHERN PLAINS...BUT MODELS STILL DISAGREE ON PRECISE PLACEMENT OF THE COOLER AIR. THE ECMWF IS CONTINUING TO PROJECT THE FURTHEST WEST SOLUTION...WHILE THE CANADIAN AND GFS CONTINUE TO KEEP THE MAIN SHOW OFF TO THE EAST. WILL SIDE WITH THE EASTERN SOLUTION GIVEN THE TRACK RECORD OF THE GFS RECENTLY...BUT FEEL MUCH OF THE AREA WILL STILL TAP INTO AT LEAST SOME OF THE COOLER AIR KEEPING TEMPS AT BELOW NORMAL LEVELS THROUGH THURSDAY. THERE IS LIKELY TO BE A SIZABLE TEMPERATURE GRADIENT ACROSS THE AREA...ESPECIALLY IN LATER PORTIONS OF THE WEEK AS THE COLDER AIR WORKS OFF TO THE EAST. WITH THE WARM AIR ADVECTION...THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR AN OVERRUNNING EVENT AND HAVE BROADBRUSHED POPS FROM WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. WARM FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION EARLY ON FRIDAY MORNING ALLOWING A PACIFIC AIRMASS TO RETURN TO THE REGION. THIS WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO REBOUND TO AT OR ABOVE SEASONAL NORMS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. BT && CLIMO...THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE SO FAR THIS MONTH AT GLASGOW IS 29.7 DEGREES...WHICH IS 12.1 DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE. MONTH TO DATE IT IS THE WARMEST START TO THE MONTH OF DECEMBER SINCE 1959. SO FAR ONLY A TRACE OF SNOW HAS FALLEN AT THE AIRPORT IN GLASGOW...WHICH TIES WITH 1997 AS THE LEAST SNOWY START TO DECEMBER IN THE LAST 50 YEARS. CB && .KGGW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... LAKE WIND ADVISORY FOR FORT PECK LAKE UNTIL 5 AM MST MONDAY. HIGH WIND WATCH FOR ALL OF NORTHEAST MONTANA FROM 5 AM MONDAY UNTIL 5 PM MST MONDAY. && WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 558 AM MST SUN DEC 19 2004 .DAY ONE... .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ016-017-021>023-201300- CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PHILLIPS-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY-GARFIELD- MCCONE-PETROLEUM- 558 AM MST SUN DEC 19 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA .DAY ONE... A LAKE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR FORT PECK LAKE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFNPWGGW OR WWUS75 KGGW FOR DETAILS. A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT BEGINNING SUNDAY EVENING. PLEASE REFER TO GTFNPWGGW OR WWUS75 KGGW FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A HIGH WIND WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT MONDAY AND MONDAY AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFNPWGGW OR WWUS75 KGGW FOR DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ018>020-024>027-059>062-201300- DANIELS-DAWSON-EASTERN ROOSEVELT-NORTHERN PHILLIPS-NORTHERN VALLEY- PRAIRIE-RICHLAND-SHERIDAN-SOUTHWEST PHILLIPS-WESTERN ROOSEVELT- WIBAUX- 558 AM MST SUN DEC 19 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA .DAY ONE... A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT BEGINNING SUNDAY EVENING. PLEASE REFER TO GTFNPWGGW OR WWUS75 KGGW FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A HIGH WIND WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT MONDAY AND MONDAY AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFNPWGGW OR WWUS75 KGGW FOR DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2004
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: 5431135, 5431136, 5431137, 5431138.