An upper level jet over Alberta moved south over the Northern Rockies at the same time a short wave approached western Montana. The resulting surface gradient produced strong winds.
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 upper level jet over Alberta moved south over the Northern Rockies at the same time a short wave approached western Montana. The resulting surface gradient produced strong winds. 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 Nov 30, 9:34 AM MST, 1 hour 26 minutes earlier.
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</html>4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust to 61 mph was reported at the Two Medicine DOT site.
A wind gust to 59 mph was reported at the Cut Bank ASOS site.
A wind gust to 75 mph was reported at Bynum 13W (the Dellwo MSCN site).
A wind gust to 63 mph was reported at the Sweetgrass DOT 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, November 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 202287, 202288, 202289, 202290.