A strong cold front moved through the region producing very strong northwest winds.
Every event with a place to put it; 9 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 GGW wrote it up.
A strong cold front moved through the region producing very strong northwest winds.
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 30, 3:23 PM MST, 5 hours 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 323 PM MST FRI JAN 30 2009 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY... A STRONG SHORTWAVE AND COLD FRONT MOVES INTO NORTHEAST MONTANA EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. THE MAIN IMPACT WITH THE FRONT WILL BE WIND. THE MODELS ARE ADVERTISING 850 MB AROUND 60 KNOTS ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES. BEING THE MORNING...THE LEAST FAVORABLE TIME OF DAY FOR MIXING...AND THE WEAK LAPSE RATES WILL LET NIGHT SHIFT LOOK AT ISSUING HEADLINES. CAA WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO BLOW ANY LOOSE SNOW AROUND IN THE NORTHERN ZONES...IF ANY STILL REMAINS WITH RECENT RAIN AND FREEZING RAIN ON TOP OF THE NEAR 40 DEGREE TEMPERATURES. MADE A FEW CALL THIS AFTERNOON AND FOUND SNOW TO BE MORE COMPACT THEN IT WAS YESTERDAY. WILL KEEP AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW IN THE FORECAST FOR NOW AND MENTION WIND AND BLOWING SNOW POSSIBILITIES IN A HWO. DONT EXPECT THE SYSTEM TO HAVE ENOUGH MOISTURE FOR MUCH OF A CHANCE OF SNOW AT THIS TIME...PROBABLY LESS THEN AN INCH. EXPECT THE STRONG WINDS ALOFT TO DIMINISH TO 40 TO 50 KNOTS AFTER 20Z SATURDAY. THE WINDS ALOFT WILL ONCE AGAIN INCREASE SATURDAY NIGHT AS THE REST OF THE SHORTWAVE MOVES ACROSS THE REGION ON SUNDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE THE WINDS ABOVE 850MB TO INCREASE BETWEEN 50 AND 60 KNOTS. SO EXPECT SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW ALONG THE DAKOTA BORDER...WITH BLOWING SNOW POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHEAST ZONES DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY. THE PRESSURE GRADIENT BETWEEN HIGH PRESSURE IN IDAHO AND LOW PRESSURE TO THE EAST BEGINS TO RELAX AS WE HEAD INTO MONDAY. RAS .LONG TERM...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY... ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED FORECAST AS LITTLE DIFFERENCES IN THE MODELS. UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE WITH GENERALLY WARM WEATHER EXPECTED. EXCEPTIONS WILL BE AT THE START OF THE PERIOD...SUNDAY NIGHT AS COLD HIGH PRESSURE SLIDES TO THE EAST. ANOTHER WAVE FLATTENS THE TOP OF THE RIDGE ON WEDNESDAY AS IT MOVES THROUGH CENTRAL CANADA. THIS WAVE PASSES WELL TO THE NORTH OF MONTANA SO MAIN AFFECT SHOULD BE SLIGHT COOLING. RIDGE THEN REBOUNDS THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK. EBERT PREVIOUS LONG TERM DISCUSSION...THE DRY PATTERN THAT HAS DOMINATED THE PAST 2 WEEKS CONTINUES...AS THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER SYSTEMS IN THE LONG TERM PERIOD. MODELS IN IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE LARGE-SCALE PATTERN. AN ARCTIC SURFACE HIGH MOVES INTO ND SUN NIGHT. MODELS SHOWING SOME DISAGREEMENT ON THE EFFECTS OF THIS ON NE MT...INCLUDING THE GFS ENSEMBLES. PREFER THE COLDER SOLUTIONS...IN PART BASED ON A PREVIOUS SIMILAR PATTERN THIS MONTH. THIS HAS -18C 850 LINE INTO OUR NE AND THICKNESSES DOWN TO 510 DM. WILL LOWER SOME SUN NIGHT/MON TEMPS...BUT WARMING ALOFT ALREADY WELL UNDER WAY DURING THIS TIME PERIOD...WITH GENERALLY CLOUDY SKIES...SO BELOW ZERO LOWS OF A FEW DEGREES SUN NIGHT LIMITED TO N HALF OF CWA. STRONG WARM ADVECTION ALOFT...BUT OTHERWISE LIFT AND GENERAL UPPER SUPPORT APPEAR WEAK SUN NIGHT AND MON...SO WILL KEEP POPS IN 10 PCT AREA. UPPER RIDGE SLOWLY MOVES E OVER MT BRINGING THICKNESSES VALUES TO NEAR 550 DM BY TUE/WED...IN PATTERN SIMILAR TO JAN 17-19TH. THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF SUNSHINE...BUT EXTENSIVE SNOWCOVER REMAINS. AND LOW LEVEL MIXING LOOKS MEDIOCRE. ONLY MINOR ADVANTAGES SEEN OVER JAN 17-19TH...IN FORM OF LOWERING ALBEDO OF SNOW AND HIGHER SUN ANGLE...SO EXPECT TEMPS FOR A 2-3 DAYS TO CLIMB ABOVE FREEZING ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA...OUR SW INTO THE 40S...BUT FALLING FAR SHORT OF POTENTIAL AGAIN. THE UPPER RIDGE STARTS TO WEAKEN BY THU...AND IS GONE BY FRI...WITH A WEAK DISTURBANCE OR TWO AND FALLING HEIGHTS AND THICKNESSES..BUT NO CLEAR-CUT WEATHER SYSTEMS. SIMONSEN && .AVIATION... VFR WITH MID TO HIGH CLOUDS EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. A COLD FRONT WILL BRING INCREASED NORTH WINDS SATURDAY MORNING. SOME LOWER CLOUDS AND SNOW SHOWERS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE BEHIND THE FRONT. RAE && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 403 AM MST FRI JAN 30 2009 MTZ016>027-059>062-311100- CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PHILLIPS-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY- DANIELS-SHERIDAN-WESTERN ROOSEVELT-PETROLEUM-GARFIELD-MCCONE- RICHLAND-DAWSON-PRAIRIE-WIBAUX-NORTHERN PHILLIPS- SOUTHWEST PHILLIPS-NORTHERN VALLEY-EASTERN ROOSEVELT- 403 AM MST FRI JAN 30 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A MIX OF LIGHT RAIN AND LIGHT FREEZING RAIN THAT FELL OVERNIGHT HAS MADE SOME ROADS EAST OF MALTA AND JORDAN SLIPPERY. MORE LIGHT RAIN IS POSSIBLE THIS MORNING EAST OF OPHEIM...WOLF POINT AND GLENDIVE WITH A MIX OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN POSSIBLE BETWEEN PLENTYWOOD AND CULBERTSON. IF TRAVELING THIS MORNING...LOOK OUT FOR AREAS OF BLACK ICE AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 50 MPH BEHIND THE FRONT. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE NORTH OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IS POSSIBLE NEAR THE CANADIAN BORDER ON SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
9 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Montana Department of Transportation Malta South observation site recorded sustained winds of 49 mph with a peak gust of 59 mph between 9 pm and 10 pm.
The Whitewater School observation site had a measured wind gust of 62 mph at 405 am.
The King Coulee RAWS observation site had a gust to 58 mph between 6 am and 7 am. A trained weather spotter reported sustained winds of 40 to 45 mph from 5 am to 730 am.
Montana Department of Transportation McDonald's Hill observation site recorded sustained winds of 40 to 45 mph for two hours after the frontal passage.
Montana Department of Transportation Hays observation site recorded sustained winds of 41 mph with gusts to 47 mph for two hours after the frontal passage.
Montana Department of Transportation Sioux Pass observation site had sustained winds between 40 and 43 miles an hour.
The observation site eight miles north of Glentana had sustain winds of 40 to 43 mph.
The Port of Whitetail had sustained winds of 40 to 42 mph with a peak wind gust up to 50 mph. The Border Patrol reported a flag pole was bent by the winds.
The Port of Raymond had a peak wind gust of 58 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, January 2009
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: 149753, 149745, 149743, 149742, 152054, 149741, 149747, 149749, 149751.