Severe thunderstorms developed over southwest Montana during the late afternoon hours. These storms were generally high-based and produced 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 southwest Montana during the late afternoon hours. These storms were generally high-based and produced 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 21, 4:55 PM MST, 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 555 PM MDT SAT JUN 21 2008 UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE THAT BROUGHT VERY WARM AND DRY WEATHER TO SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA TODAY WILL SHIFT EAST THIS EVENING. THE SOMEWHAT MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW BETWEEN THE RIDGE AND AN APPROACHING PACIFIC TROUGH WILL BRING ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA THIS EVENING...WITH THE MAIN THREAT FROM THEM BEING GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL. STORMS WILL DIMINISH ACROSS THE EASTERN TFX ZONES LATER THIS EVENING...WHILE THE APPROACHING TROUGH WILL CONTINUE ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE WESTERN ZONES OVERNIGHT. STRONG MID LEVEL LIFT ACCOMPANYING A COLD FRONT AHEAD OF THE TROUGH WILL SPREAD SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA FROM THE WEST DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY. THE FORECAST MODELS CONTINUE TO MOVE THE FRONT THROUGH THE AREA QUICKLY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. HOWEVER...THE FRONT WILL BE POSITIONED OVER THE EASTERN ZONES INTO SOUTHWEST MONTANA DURING THE AFTERNOON. STRONG WIND SHEAR OF 40 TO 50 KNOTS ALONG THE FRONT WILL HELP FOCUS POTENTIALLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THERE. DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE MOST LIKELY THREAT...WHILE LARGE HAIL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. BREEZY WESTERLY WINDS WILL ALSO DEVELOP BEHIND THE FRONT. STORMS WILL DECREASE DURING THE EVENING AS THE SHORTWAVE AND COLD FRONT EXIT THE AREA. A MORE STABLE WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL LINGER OVER THE AREA LATE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. HOWEVER...THE AIRMASS WILL BECOME SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES TONIGHT WILL BE ABOVE NORMAL AHEAD OF THE FRONT...BUT THEY WILL COOL BACK TO NEAR NORMAL FOR SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY. COULSTON MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...PERIOD IS DOMINATED BY WEST TO WEST-SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT THROUGH MUCH OF NEXT WEEK WITH WEAK ENERGY SKIRTING THE REGION FROM TIME TO TIME AS SHORTWAVES EJECT FROM A BROAD/LOW AMPLITUDE TROUGH IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC INTO WESTERN CANADA. THIS WILL MAINTAIN WARM AND GENERALLY DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE REGION WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR TO SOMEWHAT ABOVE AVERAGE. AFTERNOON INSTABILITY BUT LIMITED MOISTURE WILL ALLOW FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ONLY ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONVECTION EACH DAY WITH SLIGHTLY BETTER COVERAGE ON THURSDAY AS A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES BY TO THE NORTH. HOENISCH && .AVIATION... UPDATED 2355Z. GENERALLY VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL...AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA THROUGH 00Z MONDAY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS OVER 35 KTS...WILL DIMINISH BY 05Z SUNDAY. A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL CHANGE EASTERLY AND SOUTHEASTERLY SURFACE WINDS TO WESTERLY SUNDAY MORNING...AS SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. AS INSTABILITY DEVELOPS BEHIND THE COLD FRONT SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND A WEATHER DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE REGION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION...GENERALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM KHVR TO KGTF TO KHLN...WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS OVER SOUTHWEST MONTANA. THE STRONGEST STORMS SUNDAY AFTERNOON WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS OVER 45 KTS ALONG WITH HAIL. CEILINGS WILL LOWER TO NEAR 5000 FEET NEAR STORMS. OUTSIDE OF THUNDERSTORMS...WIND SPEEDS WILL GENERALLY BE UNDER 15 KTS...THOUGH WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 25 KTS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA SUNDAY AFTERNOON. COHEN && .HYDROLOGY... UPDATED 1036 AM MDT. SNOW MELT FROM WARMING TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE ELEVATED WATER LEVELS ON AREA RIVERS...CREEKS...AND STREAMS. RIVER LEVELS REMAIN NEAR OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE BANKFULL NEAR INTERSTATE 90 IN SOUTHERN JEFFERSON COUNTY. MAIN STEM RIVER LEVELS IN BROADWATER... MADISON...AND GALLATIN COUNTIES HAVE GENERALLY REMAINED STEADY OR HAVE BEEN SLOWLY RISING. THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR LOGAN IS FORECAST TO REMAIN AT OR ABOVE FLOOD STAGE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE AND THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR GALLATIN GATEWAY CONTINUES TO SLOWLY RISE. THEREFORE...WILL CONTINUE THE FLOOD WARNING FOR THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR LOGAN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. WILL ALSO EXTEND THE SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR JEFFERSON...BROADWATER...MADISON...AND GALLATIN COUNTIES INTO SUNDAY AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...MAIN STEM RIVER LEVELS IN THESE COUNTIES ARE GENERALLY FORECAST TO BEGIN FALLING AFTER SUNDAY AS TEMPERATURES BEGIN TO COOL. WILL REEVALUATE STATUS OF ADVISORY ON SUNDAY. EMANUEL/COULSTON && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 56 79 49 78 / 10 30 20 10 CTB 53 76 46 75 / 20 30 20 10 HLN 55 81 51 82 / 10 30 20 10 BZN 52 81 49 80 / 10 30 30 10 WEY 44 74 41 72 / 10 30 30 10 DLN 48 76 42 77 / 10 30 30 10 HVR 53 81 49 80 / 10 40 20 10 LWT 50 75 48 74 / 10 40 30 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...COULSTON LONG TERM...HOENISCH AVIATION...COHEN WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 1135 AM MDT SAT JUN 21 2008 MTZ015-052-053-055-221200- MADISON-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-GALLATIN- 1135 AM MDT SAT JUN 21 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT VERY WARM TEMPERATURES WILL ALLOW THE SNOWMELT TO CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. RIVER LEVELS IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA WILL REMAIN HIGH. THE FLOOD WARNING FOR THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR LOGAN WILL CONTINUE TODAY...AS WILL SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORIES ACROSS THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE FLOOD WARNING FOR THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR LOGAN WILL CONTINUE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...AND THE SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORIES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON. COOLER TEMPERATURES SHOULD GENERALLY ALLOW RIVER LEVELS TO GRADUALLY FALL THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. A DISTURBANCE MAY ALSO BRING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA ON SUNDAY. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH GUSTY WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ008>014-044>051-054-221200- BEAVERHEAD-NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL- CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-TOOLE- LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER- 549 AM MDT SAT JUN 21 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT VERY WARM TEMPERATURES WILL ALLOW THE SNOWMELT TO CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. RIVER LEVELS IN SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA WILL REMAIN HIGH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A DISTURBANCE MAY ALSO BRING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA ON SUNDAY. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH GUSTY WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The Missoula radar (KMSX), 228 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:03 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 67 mph at the Dillon ASOS site.
A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 60 mph at Dillon.
A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 61 mph at Augusta 21W.
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: 109926, 109927, 109929.