Deep surface low pressure moving across southern Canada contributed to strong winds along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph 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.
Deep surface low pressure moving across southern Canada contributed to strong winds along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph 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 Nov 14, 10:11 PM MST, 1 hour 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 1011 PM MST FRI NOV 14 2008 .DISCUSSION... AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL GRADUALLY BUILD INTO THE WESTERN U.S. THROUGH THE WEEKEND. STRONG WINDS ALOFT AND A WEAK DISTURBANCE MOVING OVER THE RIDGE ACROSS ALBERTA WILL ALLOW FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LEE SIDE SURFACE TROUGH LATER TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...WHICH WILL BRING INCREASING WINDS TO NORTH CENTRAL MT TONIGHT WITH WINDY AND DRY CONDITIONS CONTINUING THROUGH SATURDAY. STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE ALONG THE ROCKY MTN FRONT AND ADJACENT PLAINS SATURDAY MORNING...WITH LATEST MODELS BRINGING RIDGETOP LEVEL WINDS OF 55-65 KTS TO THE GLACIER PARK VICINITY. WILL THEREFORE ISSUE A HIGH WIND WARNING FOR LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY FOR THE NORTHERN ROCKY MTN FRONT. AS THE SURFACE TROUGH SHIFTS EAST SATURDAY NIGHT...A WEAK CANADIAN COLD FRONT DROPS SOUTH INTO NORTH CENTRAL MT BY SUNDAY MORNING. THE FRONT STALLS OVER CENTRAL ZONES DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY WITH MOISTURE IN WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER- RUNNING THE SHALLOW COOLER AIRMASS. MODELS DISAGREE ON PLACEMENT OF LIGHT PRECIPITATION ON SUNDAY IN THIS PATTERN...HOWEVER HAVE MAINTAINED SLIGHT CHANCE TO CHANCE POPS ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MT WITH BETTER CHANCES FOR SOME LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS. LOW TEMPERATURES TONIGHT WILL BE INFLUENCED BY THE INCREASING WINDS AND HIGH CLOUDS ACROSS NW ZONES...WHERE LOWS WILL LIKELY OCCUR IN THE EVENING WITH STEADY OR RISING TEMPS WITH THE WINDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. WINDY CONDITIONS WILL KEEP TEMPS MILD ON SATURDAY ACROSS MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH COOLER TION A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION OVER MUCH OF THE AREA. ON WEDNESDAY BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF HAVE NORTHWEST FLOW OVER THE AREA BUT THE GFS IS DRY WHILE THE ECMWF HAS SOME PRECIPITATION. DECIDED TO KEEP THE PLAINS MOSTLY DRY BUT CONTINUED A THREAT OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE MOUNTAINS. WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...MODELS INDICATE A PROGRESSIVE PATTERN DURING THE PERIOD WITH A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES EXPECTED TO AFFECT THE AREA. BEING THAT FAR IN THE FUTURE MODELS ARE NOT IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON SHORTWAVE DETAILS. FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY SOME MODELS HINT THAT THERE COULD BE SOME LIGHT UPSLOPE PRECIPITATION SO ADDED A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION TO THAT AREA. FOR THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT WENT WITH CLIMATOLOGY WITH REGARD TO CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION. ALTHOUGH THE FLOW ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO BE GENERALLY WESTERLY THERE MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGH DOWNSLOPE AT LOW LEVELS TO PREVENT PRECIPITATION FOR THE PLAINS AND VALLEYS. BLANK && .AVIATION... UPDATED 0510Z. AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WILL MOVE OVER THE ROCKIES SATURDAY. A SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE ACROSS ALBERTA AND FLATTEN THIS RIDGE LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. THIS WILL WILL BRING VERY STRONG WEST WINDS DOWN NEAR GROUND LEVEL ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES...SUSTAINED WINDS OF 35 TO 40 WITH GUSTS IN EXCESS 60 KTS ARE EXPECTED NEAR RIDGE TOPS AND PASSES. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED ACROSS MOST OF NORTH CENTRAL DURING THIS PERIOD. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 29 55 36 44 / 0 0 10 30 CTB 27 53 30 40 / 0 0 20 20 HLN 27 52 33 47 / 0 0 0 20 BZN 24 54 30 53 / 0 0 0 10 WEY 14 36 20 41 / 0 0 0 10 DLN 23 52 30 51 / 0 0 0 0 HVR 20 52 28 41 / 0 10 20 20 LWT 23 53 31 41 / 0 0 10 30 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 2 AM TO 5 PM MST SATURDAY FOR MTZ009. && SHORT TERM...HOENISCH LONG TERM...BLANK AVIATION...ZELZER WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 316 PM MST FRI NOV 14 2008 MTZ009-152230- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 316 PM MST FRI NOV 14 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT STRONG WINDS ARE EXPECTED ONCE AGAIN OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT STARTING LATE TONIGHT AND CONTINUING ON SATURDAY. WIND SPEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE NEAR WARNING CRITERIA TONIGHT AT HIGHER ELEVATION...ESPECIALLY AT FAVORED LOCATIONS SUCH AS CANYONS...MOUNTAIN PASSES...AND RIDGE TOPS. THIS SITUATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED CLOSELY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM SATURDAY THROUGH 5 PM SATURDAY. WIND SPEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH WARNING CRITERIA AT HIGHER ELEVATION...ESPECIALLY AT FAVORED LOCATIONS SUCH AS CANYONS...MOUNTAIN PASSES...AND RIDGE TOPS. THIS SITUATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED CLOSELY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ008-010>015-044>055-152230- BEAVERHEAD-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- 316 PM MST FRI NOV 14 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 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.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust to 63 mph was reported at the DOT site at Two Medicine. Additionally, a wind gust to 64 mph was reported at Browning and a gust to 63 mph was reported at Heart Butte.
A wind gust to 59 mph was reported at the Cut Bank ASOS site.
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, November 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: 139792, 139793.