A late night thunderstorm burned down a home in St. Ignatius from a lightning strike.
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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 MSO wrote it up.
A late night thunderstorm burned down a home in St. Ignatius from a lightning strike.
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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 5, 1:45 PM MST, 10 hours 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 245 PM MDT SUN JUL 5 2009 .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY...SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER THE NORTHERN U.S. ROCKIES DURING THE NEAR TERM...AS AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE MOVES EAST OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. A WEAK STORM SYSTEM EMBEDDED WITHIN THE FLOW...COUPLED WITH A GOOD MOISTURE FETCH AND DAYTIME HEATING...WILL BE THE FOCAL POINT OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO THROUGH LATE THIS EVENING. THIS WEAK SYSTEM WILL MAINTAIN SOME STORM CELLS WELL AFTER DAYTIME HEATING HAS ENDED. BY MIDDAY MONDAY...STRENGTHENING SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW AND LOW LEVEL SHEAR ARE ANTICIPATED TO BE PRESENT OVER THE REGION. NECESSARY INGREDIENTS FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...INCLUDING DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...A STRONG JET STREAK...AND ABUNDANT MOISTURE...ARE ANTICIPATED TO BE PRESENT ACROSS NORTHWEST MONTANA DURING THIS TIME. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL...HOWEVER DAMAGING WINDS MAY ALSO EXIST IN SOME CELLS. THESE SEVERE WEATHER ELEMENTS ARE TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF A CLOSED LOW PRESSURE CIRCULATION THAT IS TO MAKE LANDFALL ON THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST DURING MONDAY. A STRONG SURFACE COLD FRONT IS LIKELY TO BE PRESENT AS WELL DURING MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH TEMPERATURES DROPPING SIGNIFICANTLY BETWEEN SUNDAY AND MONDAY. THE SEVERE THREAT IS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH FOLLOWING THE PASSAGE OF THE SURFACE COLD FRONT. PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL REMAIN DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE NEAR TERM...PARTICULARLY OVER NORTHWEST MONTANA...WHERE THE COLD AIR ALOFT ASSOCIATED WITH THE CLOSED LOW WILL BE NEARBY. TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...MUCH COOLER AND UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL BE OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY AS THE UPPER TROUGH REMAINS OVER THE NORTHWEST U.S. A STRONG SHORTWAVE WILL EJECT OUT OF THE LONGWAVE TROUGH AND PUSH OVER THE AREA WEDNESDAY. THIS CONTINUES TO LOOK LIKE THE COOLEST AND WETTEST DAY. LOWER LAPSE RATES COULD STILL SUPPORT SOME THUNDERSTORMS IF FORCING IS SUFFICIENT...BUT INSTABILITY INTO MIDWEEK WILL BE MUCH LESS SIGNIFICANT THAN TODAY AND MONDAY. THE AIR MASS WILL BEGIN TO DRY AND WARM LATER IN THE WEEK AS THE LONGWAVE TROUGH RETROGRADES OFF THE WEST COAST LEAVING A PERSISTENT SOUTHWEST FLOW OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. && .AVIATION... AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL TRANSITION INTO SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE REGION DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. A WEAK STORM SYSTEM EMBEDDED WITHIN THE FLOW WILL ALLOW THUNDERSTORMS TO EXIST THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST PERIOD. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...POSSIBLE IN THE VICINITY OF ALL AREA TERMINALS...WILL BE VARIABLE WIND GUSTS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL LESSEN AFTER 06/0300Z...AND BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AFTER 06/1800Z. FOR MONDAY...LARGE HAIL AND SEVERE WIND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE FROM SOME STORM CELLS. && .MSO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MT...NONE. ID...NONE. && SHORT TERM...ZUMPFE LONG TERM....KOLATA AVIATION...ZUMPFE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 252 PM MDT SUN JUL 5 2009 MTZ001>003-007-043-061100- KOOTENAI/CABINET REGION-WEST GLACIER REGION- FLATHEAD/MISSION VALLEYS-BUTTE/BLACKFOOT REGION- POTOMAC/SEELEY LAKE REGION- 252 PM MDT SUN JUL 5 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST MONTANA AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT DAYTIME HEATING AND ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE WILL COMBINE TO PRODUCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND THROUGH EARLY EVENING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AS A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE MOVES INLAND ON MONDAY...THE ATMOSPHERE OVER NORTHWEST MONTANA WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AND SUPPORTIVE OF POTENTIALLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND HAIL LARGER THAN ONE INCH. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. IDZ005>010-MTZ004>006-061100- NORTHERN CLEARWATER MOUNTAINS-SOUTHERN CLEARWATER MOUNTAINS- OROFINO/GRANGEVILLE REGION-LOWER HELLS CANYON/SALMON RIVER REGION- WESTERN LEMHI COUNTY-EASTERN LEMHI COUNTY-LOWER CLARK FORK REGION- MISSOULA/BITTERROOT VALLEYS-BITTERROOT/SAPPHIRE MOUNTAINS- 252 PM MDT SUN JUL 5 2009 /152 PM PDT SUN JUL 5 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT DAYTIME HEATING AND ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE WILL COMBINE TO PRODUCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY EVENING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AS A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE MOVES INLAND ON MONDAY...THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AND SUPPORTIVE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS. ALTHOUGH MOST CONVECTION WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH AND HAIL UP TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH IN DIAMETER...ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 57 MPH AND HAIL LARGER THAN ONE INCH. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The Missoula radar (KMSX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:16 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A home in St. Ignatius was completely burned down and destroyed by a lightning strike.
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, July 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: 199084.