Severe thunderstorms developed over a large portion of North Central Montana during the early evening hours. Hail the size of golf balls was reported as well as wind gusts in excess of 60 mph.
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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 TFX wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorms developed over a large portion of North Central Montana during the early evening hours. Hail the size of golf balls was reported as well as wind gusts in excess of 60 mph.
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 Jun 2, 1:35 PM MST, 1 hour 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 235 PM MDT MON JUN 2 2008 .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...ACTIVE EVENING OF CONVECTION IN STORE FOR THE REGION TONIGHT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO FIRE THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL LOW AND WILL QUICKLY BECOME WIDESPREAD. INGREDIENTS ARE IN PLACE FOR SOME STORMS TO BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...MAINLY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY IN THE EVENING. ACTIVITY WILL WIND DOWN AND THUNDER WILL WANE DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. TROUGHY AND UNSETTLED PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE SHORT TERM FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND AFTERNOON/EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. WIDESPREAD STRATIFORM RAIN IS EXPECTED WEDNESDAY AS THE TROUGH DEEPENS. TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD...RANGING TO JUST A FEW DEGREES BELOW NORMAL IN THE NORTH TO WELL BELOW NORMAL IN THE SOUTHWEST. MINOR ACCUMULATING SNOWS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE HIGHER PEAKS OF THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS TUESDAY NIGHT. THOMSON WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT...MODELS AGREE ON AN UNSETTLED PATTERN DURING THE PERIOD BUT DISAGREE WITH REGARD TO DETAILS. BY LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THE GFS MODEL HAS AN UPPER LOW OVER EASTERN MONTANA WHILE THE ECMWF HAS THE MAIN UPPER LOW OVER CO WITH A WEAKER PORTION OF EASTERN MONTANA. AS THIS SYSTEM MOVES EAST ON THURSDAY MODELS DO KEEP QUITE A BIT OF RESIDUAL MOISTURE OVER THE AREA. THEN GFS/ECMWF BRING ANOTHER WEATHER SYSTEM INTO WESTERN MONTANA ON SATURDAY. GFS IS QUITE A BIT STRONGER THAN THE ECMWF WITH THIS SECOND SYSTEM. DUE TO MODEL DIFFERENCES HAVE GENERALLY NOT MADE ANY MAJOR CHANGES TO INHERITED CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION FORECAST WHICH BASICALLY PAINTED THE FORECAST AREA WITH CHANCE POPS. FORECAST TEMPERATURES A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL LOOKS GOOD. BLANK SUNDAY AND MONDAY...LONG RANGE MODELS ARE IN BETTER AGREEMENT WITH A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH MONTANA. MAINTAINED CLIMO POPS THROUGH THE PERIOD. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL. SAUCIER && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1820Z. CLOUD BUILD-UPS HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED OVER NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA AS THE SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT BECOMES UNSTABLE AHEAD OF AN UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. CONDITIONS WILL GENERALLY REMAIN VFR AS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS BECOME MORE NUMEROUS ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. MOST STORMS WILL HAVE WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 KNOTS...BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL AND OCCASIONAL MVFR CONDITIONS. SOME STORM MAY ALSO HAVE SMALL HAIL. HOWEVER...STORMS FROM SOUTHWEST MONTANA (MAINLY KBZN TERMINAL AREA) INTO CENTRAL MONTANA (MAINLY KLWT TERMINAL AREA) MAY HAVE GUSTS OF 50 KNOTS OR MORE...LARGE HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER...AND OCCASIONAL IFR CONDITIONS. THUNDERSTORMS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH FROM THE WEST THROUGHOUT THE EVENING HOURS AS THE UPPER SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. HOWEVER...SOME MOISTURE WILL WRAP AROUND THE SHORTWAVE AND CONTINUE SHOWERS OVERNIGHT ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER (MAINLY KHVR TERMINAL AREA). THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA WILL HAVE DECREASING CLOUDS AND SHOWERS OVERNIGHT. BREEZY WESTERLY WINDS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. COULSTON && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 47 66 43 60 / 60 30 30 60 CTB 45 64 43 58 / 60 20 20 50 HLN 49 67 46 60 / 50 30 30 50 BZN 45 64 44 61 / 70 30 40 60 WEY 38 55 37 45 / 60 40 60 60 DLN 41 61 40 54 / 50 30 50 60 HVR 47 66 45 62 / 50 50 30 60 LWT 43 62 40 58 / 60 30 30 60 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...THOMSON LONG TERM...BLANK/SAUCIER AVIATION...COULSTON WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 510 AM MDT MON JUN 2 2008 MTZ008>015-044>055-031200- 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- 510 AM MDT MON JUN 2 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE REGION THROUGHOUT THE DAY TODAY. HOWEVER...THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD BY THIS AFTERNOON. SOME THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THE BEST TIME FRAME FOR THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS TO OCCUR WILL BE FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON UNTIL 9 PM THIS EVENING. .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.
The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:00 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Big Sandy 6N.
A severe thunderstorm produced 1.75 inch diameter hail at Chinook 15S.
A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 70 mph at Iliad 13SSW.
A severe thunderstorm produced .75 inch diameter hail at Chinook 9SSE.
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, June 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: 103752, 103754, 103756, 103758.