A weak thunderstorm moved over Billings Heights. Isolated wind damage resulted.
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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 BYZ wrote it up.
A weak thunderstorm moved over Billings Heights. Isolated wind damage resulted.
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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 16, 2:56 PM MST, 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
356 PM MDT MON MAR 16 2009
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TUE AND WED...
NO CHANGES TO THE WINTER STORM WARNINGS FOR THE BEARTOOTH/ABSAROKA
AND CRAZY MOUNTAINS.
A COMPLEX WEATHER PATTERN WILL BE OVER THE REGION TONIGHT...WITH
IMPROVING CONDITIONS TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THE REST OF THE
WEEK. CHALLENGE FOR THIS AFTERNOON IS HOW FAST NEAR STATIONARY
BAND OF PRECIPITATION WILL PUSH SOUTH THIS EVENING. ALSO WATCHING
SOME VERY STRONG AND CHAOTIC WINDS IN THE LIVINGSTON AREA TO
DETERMINE WHEN THESE WINDS WILL SUBSIDE.
CURRENT SURFACE PATTERN SHOWS A STATIONARY FRONT OVER THE
SOUTHEAST ZONES TRAILING TO A STRENGTHENING SURFACE LOW BETWEEN
LIVINGSTON AND BILLINGS. STRONG PRESSURE FALLS THIS AFTERNOON
COMBINED WITH GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS AT MOUNTAIN TOP LEVEL TO
PRODUCE GUSTY SOUTHWEST SURFACE WINDS FROM LIVINGSTON TO RED
LODGE. LIVINGSTON SAW GUSTS FROM THE SOUTHWEST TO AROUND 58 MPH
AROUND 2 PM. WINDS RECENTLY SHIFTED TO THE NORTHWEST DUE TO COLD
AIR SURGING DOWN THE SHIELD VALLEY RESULTING IN GUSTS TO 60 MPH AT
330PM FROM THE NORTHWEST. AS THE SURFACE LOW SHIFTS FURTHER EAST
OF THE LIVINGSTON AREA WILL SEE WINDS SUBSIDE TO MORE REASONABLE
LEVELS OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS...BUT COULD STILL SEE SOME
WILD DIRECTION SWINGS IN THE MEANTIME.
PRECIPITATION BAND TO THE NORTH IS DERIVED FROM A STRONG 700MB
FRONTOGENESIS BAND BEING OVER RUN BY MID LEVEL MOISTURE AND CHUNKS
OF ENERGY ALOFT. THIS FEATURE IS PROGGED TO SAG INTO THE FORECAST
AREA THIS EVENING AND BECOME STATIONARY OVER SOUTHERN ZONES
OVERNIGHT. GIVEN THE WARM TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON EXPECT
PRECIPITATION TO BEGIN AS RAIN AND CHANGE OVER TO SNOW FROM
NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST LATE TONIGHT. NO SERIOUS COLD AIR WITH THIS
SYSTEM AS IT IS OF PACIFIC ORIGIN...SO LOWS TONIGHT WILL BE IN THE
UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S. OUTSIDE OF THE FRONTOGENESIS THE FORCING
WITH THIS SYSTEM IS MARGINAL. COMBINED WITH THE RELATIVELY WARM
TEMPERATURES ONLY EXPECT LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WITH THIS SYSTEM
OUTSIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN AREAS.
STRONG MOISTURE FETCH INTO THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS WILL CONTINUE TO
BRING PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW. STRONG WINDS WILL CAUSE CONSIDERABLE
BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW TONIGHT RESULTING IN NEAR WHITE OUT
CONDITIONS AT TIMES. EXPECT ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL OF AROUND 8 INCHES
WITH LOCALLY HEAVIER ACCUMULATIONS ON WEST FACING SLOPES. THE
NORTH SIDE OF THE BEARTOOTH RANGE ABOVE NYE AND RED LODGE WILL BE
IN A DOWNSLOPE PATTERN FOR MUCH OF THE NIGHTS...THUS ONLY 2 TO 4
INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED THERE.
FOR TOMORROW THROUGH WEDNESDAY...LOWERED TEMPERATURES A FEW
DEGREES TUESDAY DUE TO LINGERING CLOUD COVER AND PRECIPITATION
THROUGH MID DAY. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM BACK INTO THE 50S ON
WEDNESDAY AS DOWNSLOPE GRADIENT REDEVELOPS. PRECIPITATION WILL
MAINLY BE CONFINED TO THE WESTERN MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS. THERE IS
SOME INDICATION OF INCREASED PRECIPITATION CHANCE FOR TUESDAY
NIGHT WITH A QUICK SURGE OF MID LEVEL MOISTURE OTHERWISE THE
LOWER ELEVATIONS WILL REMAIN GENERALLY DRY. CHAMBERS
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR THU...FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...
MOSTLY DRY WITH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE
REGION LATE THIS WEEK INTO THE FIRST HALF OF THE WEEKEND. MEDIUM
RANGE GUIDANCE IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH ZONAL FLOW OR A BROAD RIDGE
OVER THE AREA. A FEW IMPULSES RIDING THE WESTERLY FLOW COULD
PROVIDE A FEW SNOW SHOWERS TO THE MOUNTAINS...BUT NOTHING
ORGANIZED. BETTER PRECIP CHANCES WILL START TO SHOW UP BY
SATURDAY AS DEEPENING TROUGH WORKS INTO THE WEST COAST AND AN
UNSTABLE SOUTHWEST FLOW DEVELOPS INTO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES.
MUCH MORE UNCERTAINTY BY SUNDAY INTO MONDAY WITH MODEL DIFFERENCES
SHOWING UP WITH GFS/ECMWF AND THE ENSEMBLES. OVERALL...A MORE
ACTIVE PATTERN DEVELOPING THAT WILL HAVE TO BE MONITORED. GFS
QUICKER WITH ADVANCEMENT OF THE WEST COAST TROUGH ACROSS THE REGION
WITH BEST POTENTIAL FOR PRECIPITATION SUNDAY...ECMWF SLOWER AND
MORE AMPLIFIED BRINGING BEST CHANCES MONDAY. WAY TO EARLY TO TELL
THE STRENGTH OF SYSTEM AND AMOUNT OF COLD AIR AVAILABLE FOR
SNOWFALL...BUT SOMETHING TO BE WATCHED CLOSELY. FOR NOW...HAVE
MAINTAINED THE LOW PRECIP CHANCES ALONG WITH A GRADUAL COOLING
TREND.
FRIEDERS
&&
.AVIATION...
MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS WILL OCCUR AS SNOW CONTINUES TO FALL IN THE
HIGHER ELEVATIONS. IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS...PRECIPITATION CHANCES
WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE...ESPECIALLY FOR AREAS WEST OF KBIL. RAIN
OR A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW WILL BE LIKELY WITH MVFR AND IFR
CONDITIONS DEVELOPING BY EARLY EVENING. PRECIPITATION WILL
TRANSITION TO MOSTLY SNOW TONIGHT WITH IFR/LIFR CONDITIONS
DEVELOPING WITH LOWERING CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES...ESPECIALLY
FOR AREAS WEST OF KBIL...INCLUDING THE KLVM AREA. FRIEDERS
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 030/046 030/053 030/059 039/059 037/062 035/056 033/051
62/W 20/B 11/B 11/B 12/W 22/R 22/R
LVM 029/041 024/049 028/054 038/054 035/057 031/051 025/048
94/W 33/O 11/B 12/W 23/W 33/O 32/O
HDN 028/047 027/054 030/064 034/064 033/064 034/058 031/055
62/W 20/B 10/B 11/B 11/B 22/R 22/R
MLS 027/048 028/051 030/062 038/062 034/062 036/055 033/051
52/J 20/B 00/B 11/B 11/B 22/R 22/R
4BQ 029/045 028/052 030/064 035/064 033/066 038/060 035/052
42/J 10/B 10/B 11/B 11/B 22/R 22/R
BHK 027/047 026/049 028/060 034/060 033/059 030/051 027/043
52/W 20/B 00/U 11/B 11/B 22/R 22/O
SHR 028/045 026/051 027/061 032/061 030/064 028/061 025/053
64/W 21/B 11/B 11/B 12/W 22/R 23/R
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT TUESDAY FOR
ZONES 67-68.
WY...NONE.
&&
WEATHER.GOV/BILLINGSHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 324 PM MDT MON MAR 16 2009 MTZ028>042-056>058-063>068-WYZ098-099-172130- SOUTHERN WHEATLAND-MUSSELSHELL-TREASURE-NORTHERN ROSEBUD-CUSTER- FALLON-NORTHERN STILLWATER-YELLOWSTONE-POWDER RIVER-CARTER- SOUTHERN BIG HORN-EASTERN CARBON-NORTHERN PARK- NORTHERN SWEET GRASS-GOLDEN VALLEY-RED LODGE FOOTHILLS- NORTHERN BIG HORN-SOUTHERN ROSEBUD-JUDITH GAP-PARADISE VALLEY- LIVINGSTON AREA-BEARTOOTH FOOTHILLS-ABSAROKA/BEARTOOTH MOUNTAINS- CRAZY MOUNTAINS-NORTHEAST BIG HORN MOUNTAINS-SHERIDAN FOOTHILLS- 324 PM MDT MON MAR 16 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA...SOUTHEAST MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A HEAVY WET SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO FALL IN THE CRAZY AND ABSAROKA MOUNTAINS THROUGH TONIGHT. STRONG WINDS WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY THE SNOW AND CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW ALONG WITH POOR VISIBILITIES. ACCUMULATIONS WILL LIKELY BE A FOOT OR MORE BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. RAIN OR A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW WILL ALSO SPREAD INTO THE LOWER ELEVATIONS THROUGH THIS EVENING. THE PRECIPITATION WILL BE MOSTLY SNOW BY LATE EVENING. THE MOST WIDESPREAD SNOW IS FORECAST TO OCCUR WEST OF BILLINGS. AROUND AN INCH OF SLUSHY SNOW COULD ACCUMULATE IN AREAS WEST OF A ROUNDUP TO BILLINGS TO SHERIDAN LINE. THIS MIGHT BE JUST ENOUGH TO MAKE FOR SOME SLUSHY ROADS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
The Billings radar (KBLX), 9 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:31 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds estimated around 70 mph occurred in Billings Heights. This resulted in some fence and roof damage.
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, March 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: 161569.