A winter storm brought gusty winds, heavy snow and low wind chill readings to the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. Snow fall in excess of 6 inches, wind gusts greater than 80 mph and very cold wind chills were reported.
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.
A winter storm brought gusty winds, heavy snow and low wind chill readings to the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. Snow fall in excess of 6 inches, wind gusts greater than 80 mph and very cold wind chills 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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 15, 2:34 PM MST, 1 hour 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 234 PM MST THU FEB 15 2007 .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE BECOMES FLATTENED AS A SHORTWAVE APPROACHES THE ROCKIES. THIS SHORTWAVE IS PART OF A STRONG JET THAT WILL BRING WARNING CRITERIA WINDS ACROSS MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. THE SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE OVER THE ROCKIES BY 06Z FRIDAY. GOOD SUPPORT FOR STRONG WINDS EXIST WITH THE STRONG WINDS ALOFT AND STABLE PROFILE IN LOWER TO MID LEVELS. STRONG WINDS ALOFT WILL REMAIN INTO MID-DAY FRIDAY. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY...AND SHOWERS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. THE RIDGE MOVES OVERHEAD BY SATURDAY AND THE AIRMASS WILL DRY WITH LITTLE CHANCE OF PRECIP. TEMPS WILL REMAIN WELL ABOVE NORMALS AS HIGH PRESSURE AND DOWNSLOPE FLOW WORK TO WARM THE AIRMASS. ZELZER SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL BE OVER THE AREA TO START OFF THE PERIOD. THE RIDGE WILL BE PUSHED EAST OF THE AREA BY MONDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVES INTO THE AREA. MODELS AREA IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH BRINGING THIS WEAK TROUGH THROUGH SOMETIME MONDAY. OTHER THAN SOME SNOW ALONG THE DIVIDE...NOT EXPECTING MUCH FOR THE REST OF THE AREA WITH THE WAVE. AFTER THE TROUGH PASSES MONDAY NIGHT...FLOW ALOFT BECOMES WESTERLY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD. THIS PATTERN WILL BRING WINDY AND WARM CONDITIONS TO THE PLAINS. THE ONLY GOOD CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION WILL BE ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. MEIER && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1736Z. NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS. MID LEVEL CLOUDS WILL LINGER OVER SOUTHWEST MONTANA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON WHILE HIGH CLOUDS INCREASE OVER NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. A COLD FRONT AND AN UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL BRING ISOLATED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WITH LOWER CEILINGS. VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO PREVAIL EXCEPT IN THE SHOWERS. STRONG WINDS WILL DEVELOP AFTER DARK AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY AS THIS SYSTEM PASSES OVER THE AREA TONIGHT. MEIER && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 36 46 24 45 / 20 10 10 0 CTB 36 44 21 45 / 10 10 10 0 HLN 30 46 19 40 / 30 20 10 0 BZN 30 43 13 35 / 40 30 10 0 WEY 21 31 0 28 / 70 40 30 0 DLN 31 43 20 41 / 40 30 0 0 HVR 23 42 17 39 / 20 30 10 0 LWT 32 41 19 42 / 20 30 10 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 5 PM MST FRIDAY FOR MTZ009-010-012>014- 044>046-048>051-054. WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 11 AM MST FRIDAY FOR MTZ009-048. && WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 426 AM MST THU FEB 15 2007 MTZ009-048-161130- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 426 AM MST THU FEB 15 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG CHINOOK WINDS WILL INCREASE THROUGH THE DAY AND TONIGHT...A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE NIGHT. SNOW IS ALSO LIKELY AT ELEVATIONS ABOVE 5000 FEET...AND THE WIND WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR ELEVATIONS ABOVE 5000 FEET LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE NIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FRIDAY MORNING...THEN THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF DURING THE AFTERNOON. THE HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY. WINDS WILL DIMINISH FRIDAY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ010-012>014-044-046-049>051-054-161130- EASTERN GLACIER-CASCADE-CHOUTEAU- CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-TOOLE-EASTERN PONDERA- EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER- 426 AM MST THU FEB 15 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG CHINOOK WINDS WILL INCREASE THROUGH THE DAY AND TONIGHT...A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE NIGHT. THE WIND WILL BRING MUCH WARMER TEMPERATURES TO THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY. WINDS WILL DIMINISH FRIDAY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ008-011-015-045-047-052-053-055-161130- BEAVERHEAD-HILL-MADISON-LIBERTY-BLAINE-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER- GALLATIN- 426 AM MST THU FEB 15 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT GUSTY CHINOOK WINDS WILL INCREASE THROUGH THE DAY AND INTO TONIGHT...BRINGING MUCH WARMER TEMPERATURES TO THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY GUSTY WEST TO SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY. WINDS WILL DIMINISH FRIDAY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Six inches of snow was reported along with wind gusts over 80 mph and wind chill readings near 50 degrees below zero.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, February 2007
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: 11343.