Deep surface low pressure moving across southern Alberta caused strong winds along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. The strong winds caused scattered power outages due to falling trees in the Babb, Heart Butte and Birch Creek areas.
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 TFX wrote it up.
Deep surface low pressure moving across southern Alberta caused strong winds along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. The strong winds caused scattered power outages due to falling trees in the Babb, Heart Butte and Birch Creek areas. Flying street signs were reported in Cut Bank and an airborne trampoline was reported in Browning.
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 Dec 18, 9:40 AM MST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 940 AM MST MON DEC 18 2006 .DISCUSSION... WILL UPDATE FOR MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO WIND SPEEDS ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE AS AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. SURFACE GRADIENT REMAINS TIGHT ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND ACROSS THE HI-LINE. HAVE ADJUSTED WIND SPEEDS UP FOR SAID AREA. && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1115Z. UPPER LEVEL RIDGE CONTINUES TO BUILD OVER THE NORTHWESTERN CONUS TODAY. SCATTERED TO OCCASIONALLY BROKEN HIGH CLOUDS WILL MOVE OVER NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH VFR CONDITIONS PREVAILING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. MODERATE DOWNSLOPE WINDS DEVELOP ALONG THE LEE SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES THIS MORNING...BUT SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE AND VALLEY INVERSIONS WILL KEEP LIGHT WINDS IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA. MPJ && .PREV DISCUSSION...ISSUED 415 AM MST MON DEC 18 2006 TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...A POSITIVELY TILTED UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE AREA WILL TRANSITION TO ZONAL FLOW ALOFT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. EXPECT MODERATE SURFACE WINDS OVER THE NORTH CENTRAL PLAINS...AND LIGHT SURFACE WINDS WITHIN MOUNTAIN VALLEYS DURING THIS TIME. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY INCREASE DURING THIS TIME AS WELL...WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS REMAINING NEAR OR BELOW ZERO WITHIN SOME OF THE SOUTHWESTERN MOUNTAIN VALLEYS. THE ONLY AREA WHERE PRECIPITATION MAY BE POSSIBLE THROUGH WEDNESDAY IS ACROSS THE HIGHEST PEAKS OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES TODAY...AND EVEN THOSE CHANCES APPEAR TO BE PRACTICALLY NIL. ZUMPFE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT...PERIOD STARTS OFF WITH AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER WESTERN MONTANA. CUTOFF LOW PRESSURE WILL BE OVER THE HIGH PLAINS EARLY IN THE PERIOD BUT WILL SLOWLY MOVE EAST AND AWAY FROM THE FORECAST AREA. THE RIDGE WILL KEEP MY FORECAST AREA DRY WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY...WITH SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE AND VALLEY INVERSIONS KEEPING SOUTHWEST MONTANA RATHER COOL. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH PROGRESSES INTO THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS THURSDAY NIGHT FOR AN INCREASING CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION... ESPECIALLY OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS. THIS FEATURE PROGRESSES THROUGH MONTANA ON FRIDAY WITH ANOTHER SHORT-LIVED RIDGE BUILDING OVER MONTANA FOR SATURDAY. LOW PRESSURE IN CANADA WILL KEEP LIGHT TO MODERATE DOWNSLOPE WINDS BLOWING ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT THROUGH MUCH OF THE MEDIUM RANGE PERIOD. TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO REMAIN NEAR SEASONAL NORMALS. MPJ SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS CONTINUE TO BE IN FAIR AGREEMENT DURING THIS PERIOD...THOUGH MODELS ARE RUNNING A LITTLE COOLER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS. A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES ACROSS THE REGION SUNDAY WITH THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE REBUILDING MONDAY. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA SUNDAY...WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW OVER AND NEAR THE MOUNTAINS. HOWEVER...DOWNSLOPE WINDS SHOULD KEEP THE PLAINS AND MOST LARGER VALLEYS DRY. AS THE RIDGE BUILDS IN SUNDAY NIGHT...I EXPECT CLOUDS TO DECREASE WITH THE PRECIPITATION COMING TO AN END FOR MOST LOCATIONS. HOWEVER... MOISTURE IN A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND A CONTINUED CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE NORTHERN CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR TO A LITTLE BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES EXCEPT FOR NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA WHERE THE DOWNSLOPE WINDS WILL RESULT IN TEMPERATURES THAT ARE A LITTLE WARMER. EK && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 35 22 41 24 / 0 0 0 0 CTB 35 20 40 23 / 0 0 0 0 HLN 24 11 30 16 / 0 0 0 0 BZN 19 3 28 9 / 0 0 0 0 WEY 18 -21 24 -9 / 0 0 0 0 DLN 23 5 28 8 / 0 0 0 0 HVR 31 12 37 19 / 0 0 0 0 LWT 36 15 41 24 / 0 0 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...EMANUEL/ZUMPFE LONG TERM...MPJ/EK AVIATION...MPJ WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 504 AM MST MON DEC 18 2006 MTZ008>015-044>055-191230- BEAVERHEAD-NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL- CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON- TOOLE-LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE- SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS- JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-MEAGHER-GALLATIN- 504 AM MST MON DEC 18 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A gust to 84 mph was reported at Babb. Additional reports include: a gust to 74 mph at the Deep Creek RAWS site and a gust to 73 mph at the East Glacier Park DOT site. Scattered power outages were reported in the Babb area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2006
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: 6664.