High pressure over the Great Basin along with low pressure over southern Canada combined to produce strong winds over a wide portion of North Central Montana. Sustained winds of over 40 mph and gusts over 60 mph were common throughout the area.
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.
High pressure over the Great Basin along with low pressure over southern Canada combined to produce strong winds over a wide portion of North Central Montana. Sustained winds of over 40 mph and gusts over 60 mph were common throughout the area.
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 Jan 5, 4:37 PM MST, 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 437 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2007 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...VERY ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN TO BE OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES THROUGH THE WEEKEND. A STRONG AND MOIST WEST TO SLIGHTLY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL PERSIST OVER THE REGION THROUGH SUNDAY AND BEYOND. STRONG SHORT WAVES EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS ALONG AND WEST OF THE DIVIDE AND DAMAGING WINDS TO PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. THE FIRST SYSTEM STARTS TO HIT THE AREA THIS EVENING BRINGING SNOW AND POSSIBLY DAMAGING WINDS TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. AN INVERSION WILL DEVELOP AT RIDGE TOP LEVEL AND DEFLECT THE 75 TO 85 KNOT WINDS TO THE SURFACE. SOME ACCELERATION MAY OCCUR WITH THESE WINDS...THEREFORE HAVE WORDED THE WARNING THAT 100 MPH WIND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG HIGHWAY 89 FROM CHOTEAU NORTH TO THE CANADIAN BORDER. STRONG WINDS WILL SPREAD ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA SATURDAY. HAVE UPGRADED THE HIGH WIND WATCH TO A WARNING FOR ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL MAKE IT DOWN TO THE PLAINS SATURDAY AFTERNOON. NOT EXPECTING MUCH ACCUMULATION FOR THE PLAINS BUT THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA WILL LIKELY SEE 1 TO 4 INCHES BY SATURDAY EVENING. WEAK RIDGING WILL OCCUR SATURDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY BEFORE THE NEXT STRONG SHORT WAVE HITS THE AREA SUNDAY AFTERNOON. ANOTHER ROUND OF HEAVY SNOW WILL HIT THE MOUNTAINS ALONG AND WEST OF THE DIVIDE. THE THREAT FOR DAMAGING WINDS IS EVEN GREATER SUNDAY AFTERNOON ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. RIDGE TOP WINDS ARE APPROACHING 120 MPH...SO AREAS NEAR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT WILL LIKELY SEE WINDS GUSTS ABOVE 100 MPH AGAIN. WILL WORD SUNDAYS EVENT STRONGLY IN THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK. MEIER. SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...A MOIST NORTHWEST TO WEST FLOW ALOFT WILL KEEP PRECIPITATION LIKELY OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS THROUGH TUESDAY. HOWEVER...DECREASING WESTERLY DOWNSLOPE WINDS WILL ALLOW ONLY A CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION OVER SOUTHWEST MONTANA AND THE PLAINS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA DURING THIS TIME. A STRONG AND COLD SYSTEM FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL THEN APPROACH MONTANA FROM THE NORTHWEST TUESDAY NIGHT...THEN IT WILL MOVE WELL INTO THE STATE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. A STRONG COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA DURING THIS PERIOD. WINDS WILL BECOME NORTHERLY AND UPSLOPE IN DIRECTION...LIKELY BRINGING SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF SNOW OVER THE PLAINS. TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO PLUMMET AS AN ARCTIC AIRMASS MOVES INTO THE AREA BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. HIGH TEMPERATURES SHOULD COOL FROM THE 30S AND 40S ON TUESDAY INTO THE TEENS AND 20S FOR WEDNESDAY. LOWS WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOULD DIP INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE AND BELOW ZERO. COULSTON THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...A VERY COLD AND WINTRY PATTERN SETTING UP DURING THIS TIME PERIOD. THE ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL BE THROUGH THE REGION BY THURSDAY MORNING...WITH A STRONG AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE MOVING SOUTH OUT OF ALASKA TOWARDS MONTANA. BECAUSE THIS AIRMASS IS COMING FROM THE ARCTIC...EXPECT WELL BELOW ZERO TEMPERATURES TO MOVE INTO THE REGION FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES MAY NOT EVEN GET ABOVE ZERO DURING THE DAY FOR LOCATIONS NORTH OF GREAT FALLS. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL GENERALLY AVERAGE FROM NEAR 15 BELOW IN THE NORTH...TO NEAR 5 BELOW IN THE SOUTHWEST. IF WE DEVELOP A WIDESPREAD SNOWPACK OF MORE THAN 6 INCHES AT LOWER ELEVATIONS BY NEXT THURSDAY...TEMPERATURES COULD BE EVEN COLDER. THUS...CURRENT FORECASTED TEMPERATURES ARE COLDER THAN GUIDANCE...BUT NOT AS COLD AS POSSIBLE...GIVEN ANY CLOUD COVER AND THE EXACT SNOW DEPTH WILL GREATLY AFFECT TEMPERATURES LATE NEXT WEEK. THE BOTTOM LINE...IT WILL GET MUCH COLDER...BUT THE EXACT TIMING AND STRENGTH OF THIS ARCTIC AIRMASS WILL BE WATCHED CLOSELY OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...WITH UPDATES AS NECESSARY. OTHERWISE...EXPECT A FEW LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS AROUND THE REGION ON THURSDAY...WITH MAINLY MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS ON FRIDAY. BRUSDA && .AVIATION... UPDATED 2337Z. WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT TO STRENGTHEN THROUGH TONIGHT AND REMAIN STRONG THROUGH SATURDAY. FIRST DISTURBANCE IN THE FLOW MOVES INTO WESTERN MT TONIGHT...SPREADING WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION WEST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER CENTRAL AND SW MT SATURDAY AS THE DISTURBANCE MOVES THROUGH AND THE AIRMASS DESTABILIZES. STRONG AND GUSTY WEST TO SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL LIKELY HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT TO AVIATION INTERESTS OVER NORTHCENTRAL MT THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HRS WITH WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50KTS POSSIBLE LATER TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. HOENISCH && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 27 38 20 38 / 10 30 10 10 CTB 23 35 17 38 / 10 20 10 10 HLN 21 35 15 34 / 10 60 10 20 BZN 15 31 8 28 / 10 50 20 20 WEY -2 16 1 20 / 20 70 30 40 DLN 13 29 8 28 / 10 60 10 20 HVR 24 40 18 38 / 0 40 20 20 LWT 23 34 17 35 / 0 30 30 20 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 8 PM MST SATURDAY FOR MTZ011>013-044>047-049>051-054. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 PM MST SATURDAY FOR MTZ009-014-048. HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 5 PM MST SATURDAY FOR MTZ009-010-014-048. && SHORT TERM...MEIER LONG TERM...COULSTON/BRUSDA AVIATION...HOENISCH WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 351 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2007 MTZ009-014-048-061245- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK- SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 351 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT THIS EVENING THROUGH TONIGHT ABOVE 5000 FEET. EXPECT AREAS OF HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING AND WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY. ANOTHER HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT WITH DAMAGING WINDS POSSIBLE. AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH THROUGH THE REGION TUESDAY NIGHT AND INTO WEDNESDAY. EXPECT SUB ZERO TEMPERATURES OVER MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA FOR NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. ADDITIONALLY...A PERIOD OF ACCUMULATING SNOW IS EXPECTED TO ACCOMPANY THE ARCTIC FRONT. THIS SNOWFALL MAY CAUSE SOME ROADWAYS TO BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ010-061245- EASTERN GLACIER- 351 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING CONTINUES THROUGH SATURDAY. ANOTHER HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT WITH DAMAGING WINDS POSSIBLE. AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH THROUGH THE REGION TUESDAY NIGHT AND INTO WEDNESDAY. EXPECT SUB ZERO TEMPERATURES OVER MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA FOR NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. ADDITIONALLY...A PERIOD OF ACCUMULATING SNOW IS EXPECTED TO ACCOMPANY THE ARCTIC FRONT. THIS SNOWFALL MAY CAUSE SOME ROADWAYS TO BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ011>013-044>047-049>051-054-061245- HILL-CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-TOOLE-LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE- EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER- 351 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR LATE TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING CONTINUES THROUGH SATURDAY. ANOTHER HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT WITH DAMAGING WINDS POSSIBLE. AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH THROUGH THE REGION TUESDAY NIGHT AND INTO WEDNESDAY. EXPECT SUB ZERO TEMPERATURES OVER MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA FOR NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. ADDITIONALLY...A PERIOD OF ACCUMULATING SNOW IS EXPECTED TO ACCOMPANY THE ARCTIC FRONT. THIS SNOWFALL MAY CAUSE SOME ROADWAYS TO BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ008-015-052-053-055-061245- BEAVERHEAD-MADISON-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-GALLATIN- 351 PM MST FRI JAN 5 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER TONIGHT IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH THROUGH THE REGION TUESDAY NIGHT AND INTO WEDNESDAY. EXPECT SUB ZERO TEMPERATURES OVER MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA FOR NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. ADDITIONALLY...A PERIOD OF ACCUMULATING SNOW IS EXPECTED TO ACCOMPANY THE ARCTIC FRONT. THIS SNOWFALL MAY CAUSE SOME ROADWAYS TO BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
16 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A gust to 64 mph was reported at Browning. Also, a 71 mph gust was reported at the East Glacier Park DOT site.
A gust to 76 mph was reported at the Cut Bank ASOS site.
A gust to 60 mph was reported at the Great Falls ASOS site.
A gust to 65 mph was reported at the Judith Gap DOT site.
A gust to 65 mph was reported at the Pendroy DOT site.
Sustained winds of 37 mph were reported at Pendroy 2W.
A gust to 74 mph was reported at the Loma DOT site.
A gust to 58 mph was reported at the Lewistown ASOS site and at Denton.
Sustained winds of 40 mph were reported at the Inverness DOT site.
Sustained winds of 40 mph were reported at the Inverness DOT site.
A gust to 61 mph was reported at Sweet Grass.
A gust to 61 mph was reported at Townsend.
Sustained winds of 40 mph were reported at the Fort Belknap RAWS site and at Hays.
A gust to 70 mph was reported at Silver City.
A gust to 60 mph was reported at Bozeman 6ENE.
A gust to 63 mph was reported at Boulder.
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, January 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: 7592, 7594, 7599, 7612, 7608, 7610, 7600, 7613, 7597, 7603, 7602, 7614, 7606, 7601, 7616, 7618.