Very dry conditions and lightning combined to start a wildfire that consumed over 150 acres.
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.
Very dry conditions and lightning combined to start a wildfire that consumed over 150 acres.
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 Jul 25, 9:30 PM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 1030 PM MDT FRI JUL 25 2008 AVIATION SECTION UPDATED... .UPDATE... MINOR UPDATES TO ZONE AND STATE FORECASTS BY 945 PM MDT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS SLOWLY DIMINISH ACROSS FAR SOUTHWEST MONTANA...SO WILL ADJUST WORDING TO FOCUS ON THAT AREA SPECIFICALLY THIS EVENING. WILL GENERALLY DECREASE CLOUD COVER THIS EVENING AS WELL. HOWEVER...A WEAK DISTURBANCE IS FORECAST TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT...AND THE AIRMASS REMAINS WEAKLY UNSTABLE WITH EASTERLY UPSLOPE SURFACE WINDS. WILL THEREFORE KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA. OTHERWISE...OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES ARE IN GOOD SHAPE. COULSTON && .AVIATION... UPDATED 0430Z. EXCEPT FOR SOME LINGERING SCT CLOUDS FROM EVE CONVECTION NEAR KDLN...SKIES ARE CLEAR ACROSS SW AND NORTH CENTRAL MT AND WILL REMAIN THAT WAY THRU THE MORNING HOURS ON SAT. UPPER LEVEL RIDGE PROVIDING ALL THE CALM WEATHER WILL DRIFT SLIGHTLY EASTWARD TOMORROW ALLOWING A WEAK UPPER LEVEL TROF TO MOVE INTO NW AND CENTRAL MT BY MID-AFTN AND GENERATE ISOLD THUNDERSTORMS EAST OF A KCTB-TO-KHLN LINE. LATEST FORECAST MODELS HAVE BACKED OFF A BIT ON STORM COVERAGE...WITH MOST FAVORABLE AREAS BEING FROM KLWT TO KHVR. VFR WILL BE THE RULE WITH BRIEF MVFR POSSIBLE NEAR SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS AS SOME MAY BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. WARANAUSKAS && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 530 PM MDT FRI JUL 25 2008/ TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...RIDGING ALOFT CONTINUING TO PROVIDE DRY AND STABLE AIR TO THE AREA. WEAK SHORT WAVE ENERGY MARCHING ACROSS SOUTHWEST MONTANA THIS EVENING MAY GENERATE ISOLATE THUNDERSTORMS. SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATING SOME CUMULUS NOW FORMING OVER EXTREME SOUTHWEST MONTANA. THE RIDGE AXIS BEGINS TO MOVE EAST ON SATURDAY ALLOWING FOR AN INCREASING SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TO BRING MORE MOISTURE TO THE AREA. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE A BIT MORE WIDESPREAD SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH SOME STORMS POSSIBLY BECOMING STRONG. THE RIDGE AXIS MOVES TO EASTERN MONTANA SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL AGAIN DEVELOP ON SUNDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. EMANUEL SUN NIGHT THROUGH WED NIGHT...FAIRLY FLAT WSW UPPER FLOW SUN NIGHT...GIVES WAY TO MORE OF AN AMPLIFIED FLOW BY TUE...WITH TROUGHING OVER THE PAC NW...AND RIDGE BUILDING OVER MT AND THE DAKOTAS. SOME POTENTIAL FOR TSTRMS SUN EVENING...ALTHOUGH AT THIS POINT APPEARS MOST UNSTABLE AIRMASS REMAINS EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA. THIS UPPER TROUGH AND AN ASSOC COLD FRONT...SWING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA LATE TUE OR WED...GIVING BEST CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. UPPER TROUGH EAST OF THE AREA BY WED AFTERNOON IN THE GFS...BUT A LITTLE SLOWER TO CLEAR THE AREA IN THE ECMWF...WHICH WOULD IMPLY LINGERING CHANCES OF CONVECTION ON WED AS WELL. BOTH MODELS SHOW SUBSIDENCE BEHIND THE UPPER FEATURE ON THU...WHICH LOOKS TO BE DRY. TEMPS IN GENERAL LOOK TO BE NEAR OR ABOVE CLIMATE AVERAGES...BUT NOT EXTREME...WITH WED THE LEAST WARM OF THE DAYS...WITH SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR ADVECTING IN BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. REILLY THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...MODEL DIFFERENCES DETRACT A LITTLE FROM FORECAST CONFIDENCE DURING THIS PERIOD. I WENT WITH A COMPROMISE OF A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING EAST OF THE STATE EARLY THURSDAY FOLLOWED BY WEAK RIDGING OVER WESTERN MONTANA. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. THE RIDGE AXIS SLIDES EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON OR EVENING RESULTING IN AN INCREASINGLY MOIST AND UNSTABLE SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. A FEW AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS...WITH CONVECTION BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE A FEW DEGREES ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. EK && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 56 91 56 90 / 10 20 30 20 CTB 49 85 54 83 / 10 20 30 20 HLN 58 94 58 94 / 10 20 20 20 BZN 53 96 51 96 / 10 20 20 20 WEY 47 83 45 81 / 20 10 10 20 DLN 52 90 53 90 / 10 10 10 20 HVR 55 89 58 90 / 10 20 30 20 LWT 54 87 54 86 / 10 20 30 20 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...COULSTON/EMANUEL LONG TERM...REILLY/EK AVIATION...WARANAUSKAS WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 519 AM MDT FRI JUL 25 2008 MTZ008>015-044>055-261200- 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- 519 AM MDT FRI JUL 25 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTHWEST MONTANA THIS EVENING...WITH SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS GREATER THAN 50 MPH FOR A TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA SATURDAY EVENING...WITH SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS GREATER THAN 50 MPH FOR A TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning from a passing thunderstorm sparked a wildfire that consumed over 150 acres and cost greater than $1.1 million to suppress.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, July 2008
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: 124083.