Deep surface low pressure over southern Alberta contributed to high winds along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts in excess of 70 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 over southern Alberta contributed to high winds along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts in excess of 70 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 Mar 7, 4:35 AM MST, 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 435 AM MST SAT MAR 7 2009 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .DISCUSSION... TODAY THROUGH MONDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE WILL PASS OVER THE REGION SATURDAY BRINGING INCREASING CLOUDS LATER IN THE DAY. GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WINDS WILL CONTINUE TODAY HELPING KEEP MAX TEMPS HIGHER THAN NORMAL. EVEN STRONGER SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP ALONG THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. A TROF DROPS OVER SOUTHERN IDAHO BY EARLY SUNDAY BRINGING STRONGER WINDS THROUGH SOUTHERN IDAHO AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE CANADIAN BORDER SUNDAY MORNING BRINGING WITH IT LIGHT SNOW. THE EXACT PLACEMENT OF THE FRONT WILL BE IMPORTANT FOR DETERMINING HIGH TEMPS AND SNOWFALL ACROSS THE REGION. GUS MONDAY NIGHT THOUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE MEDIUM RANGE FORECAST. MODELS CONTINUE TO PUSH A DEEP UPPER TROF OVER THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. THIS FEATURE HAS VERY COLD AIR ASSOCIATED WITH IT...GENERALLY TEENS TO SINGLE DIGIT HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE ON TAP FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY. UPSLOPE SURFACE CONDITIONS WILL SPELL A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATING SNOW...GENERALLY ACROSS THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE COUNTY WARNING AREA. BY LATE TUESDAY THE UPPER TROF HAS MOVED TO EASTERN MONTANA LEAVING THE AREA UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN UNSTABLE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AND SUBSEQUENT INSTABILITY SNOW SHOWERS. AN UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO BUILD OVER THE WEST COAST WEDNESDAY AND CONDITIONS BEGIN A DRYING TREND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL BE WELL BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES TO START THE WEEK BUT REACH SEASONAL AVERAGES BY THURSDAY. FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE IN PLACE WILL BEGIN TO FLATTEN AS ANOTHER PACIFIC LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES ON THE CENTRAL PLAINS AND THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS. SAUCIER && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1135Z. HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA TODAY. SOME HIGH CLOUDS WILL BEGIN TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA BY LATE THIS MORNING. A LEE SIDE SURFACE TROF WILL STRENGTHEN AND ALLOW FOR GUSTY WINDS...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND ADJACENT PLAINS. AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL BRING A CHANCE OF SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AND ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE PLAINS. VFR CONDITIONS PREVAIL WITH AREAS OF MVFR AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURMENT IN THE VICINITY OF SNOW TONIGHT. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 43 16 28 -1 / 10 20 70 60 CTB 38 8 17 -7 / 10 20 70 60 HLN 43 15 30 9 / 10 40 50 30 BZN 41 17 34 12 / 10 50 50 50 WEY 27 9 29 11 / 20 50 80 50 DLN 36 16 32 9 / 10 40 50 30 HVR 35 11 21 -3 / 10 20 60 40 LWT 40 19 26 2 / 10 20 50 60 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...GUSTAFSON LONG TERM...EMANUEL/SAUCIER AVIATION...EMANUEL WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 740 PM MST FRI MAR 6 2009 MTZ009>014-044>051-054-071300- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL-CASCADE- CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-TOOLE-LIBERTY- EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER- 740 PM MST FRI MAR 6 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER THROUGH TONIGHT IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY A COLD AND SOMEWHAT UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN WILL RETURN TO THE REGION SUNDAY THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK. A VERY COLD AIRMASS WILL SURGE INTO THE REGION SUNDAY AND REMAIN OVER MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA THROUGH AT LEAST TUESDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY FALL BELOW ZERO FOR OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES WITH DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE SINGLE DIGITS TO LOW TEENS ABOVE ZERO. OCCASIONAL LIGHT SNOW IS ALSO POSSIBLE FROM LATE SUNDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH SOME ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ008-015-052-053-055-071300- BEAVERHEAD-MADISON-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-GALLATIN- 740 PM MST FRI MAR 6 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER THROUGH TONIGHT IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHWEST MONTANA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. THIS SYSTEM WILL LIKELY BRING ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL TO PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA AS WELL AS COLDER CONDITIONS FROM SUNDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust to 97 mph was reported at Babb. Also, a gust to 76 mph was reported at Browning 20WSW. A gust to 75 mph was reported at the Two Medicine Bridge.
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: 158040.