An early morning severe thunderstorm over Fergus County produced a wind gust 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.
An early morning severe thunderstorm over Fergus County produced a wind gust 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 Jul 8, 4:55 AM MST, 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 555 AM MDT WED JUL 8 2009 UPDATED AVIATION .DISCUSSION... TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY...UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER WESTERN CANADA AND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WILL SWING EAST TODAY AND TONIGHT...FINALLY MOVING EAST OF MONTANA ON THURSDAY. MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW AHEAD OF THE LOW WILL COMBINE WITH DYNAMICS AT THE LEFT FRONT QUADRANT OF THE UPPER LEVEL JET TO PRODUCE NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MONTANA TODAY. MODELS ALSO SUGGEST THAT BULK SHEAR ACROSS MY FAR EASTERN ZONES COULD BE SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING. CLOUD COVER AND PRECIPITATION WILL CONTRIBUTE TO TEMPERATURES REMAINING BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES TODAY. PRECIPITATION TAPERS OFF OVERNIGHT AS THE UPPER LOW MOVES EAST BUT THE REVERSE FLOW ALONG THE BACK EDGE OF THE CYCLONIC FLOW IS EXPECTED TO PUSH A SURFACE BOUNDARY SOUTH OUT OF CANADA BY THURSDAY EVENING. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG THIS BOUNDARY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MODELS SUGGEST THAT THIS FEATURE SHOULD MAINLY AFFECT THE HI-LINE COUNTIES BEFORE IT IS SHEARED OFF TO THE EAST ON FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES REBOUND BUT ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES THROUGH FRIDAY. MPJ FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT...MODELS SHOW SOME DIFFERENCES DURING THE FIRST PART OF THE PERIOD WITH GFS A BIT SLOWER IN MOVING UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA. EC CONTINUES TO BUILD AN UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE ON SATURDAY YIELDING QUIET CONDITIONS OVER THE AREA. WITH WARMING BUT STILL NEAR AVERAGE TEMPERATURES ON SATURDAY...AN ISOLATED SHOWER OVER THE MOUNTAINS IS POSSIBLE SO KEPT SLIGHT CHANCE POPS IN THE MOUNTAINS. SOUTHWEST FLOW DEVELOPS ON SUNDAY WITH PACIFIC MOISTURE INCREASING AS A DEEPENING UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. EC SEEMS TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN THE GFS IN TERMS OF MOISTURE AMOUNT AND GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY WENT WITH A BLEND OF BOTH AND KEPT ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE POPS OVER NORTH-CENTRAL MONTANA WITH CHANCE POPS ELSEWHERE BEGINNING SUNDAY AFTERNOON. MODELS BECOME MORE IN ALIGNMENT IN HANDLING THE PROGRESSION OF THE DEEPENING TROUGH AND EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES ON MONDAY. BOTH MODELS HINT AT RIDGE AXIS OVER EASTERN MONTANA SO KEPT POPS A BIT LOWER OVER OUR NORTHEASTERN ZONES. A TROPICAL SYSTEM CURRENTLY IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN MAY ALSO PLAY A ROLE AS TO THE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE THAT BECOMES WRAPPED INTO THIS SYSTEM AND WILL CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR AS THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR NOT ONLY SIGNIFICANT MOISTURE BUT ALSO STRONG THUNDERSTORMS. MLS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...MODELS SHOW A RATHER MOIST WESTERLY FLOW OVER THE REGION WITH AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH OVER THE SOUTHERN U.S. AND A BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OVER SOUTHERN CANADA. A FEW DISTURBANCES IN THE FLOW ALOFT WILL PRODUCE WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY NIGHTTIME THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES WILL BE A LITTLE COOLER THAN SEASONAL AVERAGE. WILLIAMSON DC && .AVIATION... UPDATED 0500Z. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS MOISTURE CONTINUES TO SPREAD OVER THE REGION IN RESPONSE TO AN UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCE. THIS MORNING MOST OF THE ACTIVITY WILL BE CONCENTRATED ALONG A SW-NE ORIENTED LINE EXTENDING FROM KHVR TO KLWT AND KHLN. MVFR CONDITIONS ARE CURRENTLY PERSISTING AT KLWT AND THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE MORNING BEFORE A BREAK IN ACTIVITY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AT KBZN..KHLN..KLWT..KGTF AND KHVR AFTER 2000Z WEDNESDAY FROM SW-NE WITH ONLY VICINITY SHOWERS POSSIBLE AT KCTB. WHILE VFR CONDITIONS WILL BE PREDOMINANT AT TAF SITES...OCCL MVFR CONDITIONS AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION IS POSSIBLE WHERE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRESENT. SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO END AFTER SUNSET WITH DRIER CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT. MLS && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 68 47 74 48 / 60 20 10 10 CTB 69 44 68 44 / 40 20 20 30 HLN 67 47 76 50 / 60 20 10 10 BZN 73 45 77 46 / 50 30 10 10 WEY 69 36 68 38 / 20 20 10 10 DLN 65 42 72 45 / 40 20 10 20 HVR 74 47 74 47 / 60 30 20 20 LWT 66 44 71 45 / 60 40 10 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...MPJ LONG TERM...MLS/WILLIAMSON DC AVIATION...MLS WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 434 AM MDT WED JUL 8 2009 MTZ047-051-091045- BLAINE-FERGUS- 434 AM MDT WED JUL 8 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY. SOME STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY 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. MTZ008>015-044>046-048>050-052>055-091045- BEAVERHEAD-NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL- CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON- TOOLE-LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-MEAGHER-GALLATIN- 434 AM MDT WED JUL 8 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY 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 Billings radar (KBLX), 148 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:33 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 62 mph at Lewistown 2SW (the Lewistown ASOS site).
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: 173889.