A strong chinook produced a period of strong wind across the Little Rockies and in central and southeast Phillips County. Sustained wind speeds of 40 to 55 mph with gusts of 60 to 70 mph were reported.
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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.
A strong chinook produced a period of strong wind across the Little Rockies and in central and southeast Phillips County. Sustained wind speeds of 40 to 55 mph with gusts of 60 to 70 mph were reported.
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 Jan 18, 3:15 AM MST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 315 AM MST TUE JAN 18 2005 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA TODAY THRU THURSDAY... SURPRISINGLY STRONG WARM FRONT CONTINUING TO MOVE EAST ACROSS OUR EASTERN CWA THIS MORNING. THIS HAS PRODUCED STEADILY WARMING TEMPS OVERNIGHT...WITH MOST AREAS CLIMBING ABOVE FREEZING BY 3 AM. AMAZING THAT MANY READINGS ARE 60-70F WARMER THAN JUST 48 HRS AGO. SHORTWAVE ALONG WARM FRONT WITH ENOUGH LIFT FOR AN AREA OF LIGHT PRECIP. THIS SHOULD BE OUT OF OUR EASTERN CWA SOON. EXPECT SPOTS OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN IN SOME EAST VALLEYS YET...AND WILL HANDLE WITH A NOWCAST. THE GENERAL PATTERN HAS A WARM UPPER RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN STATES THRU THE PERIOD. THE RIDGE IS VERY DIRTY THOUGH AS SHOWN BY AN IMPRESSIVE AND LONG STREAM OF MOISTURE SEEN ON INFRARED AND WATER VAPOR SATELLITE PICTURES STREAMING FROM CENTRAL PACIFIC INTO MONTANA. WEAK SHORTWAVES INVOLVED ARE HARD TO TIME BY MODELS AND ANY ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SOME LIGHT PRECIP. ALMOST TEMPTED TO HAVE BROADBRUSH POPS THRU PERIOD. WILL ADD POPS LATE TONIGHT AND WED MORNING WITH BEST CHANCE IN NORTH AND AGAIN BEST CHANCE IS WITH THE WARM FRONT. ONCE AGAIN IN WARM AIRMASS ALOFT...BUT WITH LATE NIGHT TIMING OF THIS WHEN WEST WINDS GO TO LIGHT...EXPECT POSSIBILITY OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN. SIMILAR SCENARIO AGAIN POSSIBLE WED NIGHT AND THU MORNING. CURRENT FORECAST HAS THIS WELL COVERERED...SO MADE NO POP OR WEATHER CHANGES TO ONGOING FORECAST. HAVE RAISED CLOUDCOVER THRU THE PERIOD. THE AIRMASS IS VERY WARM...BUT WEAKENING SURFACE GRADIENTS AND POSSIBILITY OF SHALLOW ARCTIC BACKDOORING INTO OUR NORTH...HAVE GONE WITH WARMER TEMPS IN NORTH THAN EARLIER FORECAST...BUT LESS THAN TODAY. SIMONSEN .LONG TERM... LOOKS LIKE A COLD FRONT WILL GET PUSHED ACROSS THE AREA EARLY THURSDAY NIGHT FOLLOWED BY THE SHORTWAVE ALOFT PUSHING IT. MILD AIRMASS AHEAD OF IT COULD MAKE FOR SOME MIXED PRECIPITATION JUST AHEAD AND BEHIND THE FRONT. LOOKS LIKE A PRETTY QUICK SHOT THO WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES LIKELY ONLY LASTING A DAY OR TWO AS UPPER RIDGE AXIS SETS UP SHOP JUST TO OUR WEST FOR MOST OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD...EFFECTIVELY KEEPING UPPER HEIGHTS/THICKNESSES UP. PACIFIC SYSTEMS SHOULD RIDE OVER THE TOP OF THE RIDGE AND SLIDE DOWN INTO THE PLAINS TO OUR EAST. THUS OVERALL A MILD AND FAIRLY DRY EXTENDED PERIOD APPEARS TO BE UPCOMING. && .KGGW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, January 2005
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: 5433784, 5433785.