Strong west to southwest winds aloft and a surface cold front combined to produce strong winds along the Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts in excess of 60 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.
Strong west to southwest winds aloft and a surface cold front combined to produce strong winds along the Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts in excess of 60 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 5, 2:30 PM MST, 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 230 PM MST THU NOV 5 2009 .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...EXPECT SOUTHWEST TO WEST FLOW ALOFT THROUGH THE PERIOD. EMBEDDED IN THIS FLOW WILL BE A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES. EXPECT ASSOCIATED PERIODS OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS. DOWNSLOPE SHOULD KEEP THE PLAINS DRY. A RATHER WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE AREA FRIDAY. THIS COLD FRONT COULD PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT TO GENERATE SOME SHOWERS IN THE SOUTHWEST VALLEYS WHICH COULD LINGER INTO FRIDAY EVENING. OTHERWISE EXPECT SOUTHWEST VALLEYS TO BE MOSTLY DRY. AS FOR THE HIGH WIND WARNING WILL CONTINUE WITH IT. SEE SOME EVIDENCE THAT HIGH WINDS COULD POSSIBLY OCCUR A LITTLE FARTHER EAST THAN WHAT IS IN THE HIGH WIND WARNING. HOWEVER AM NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH THAT THIS WILL OCCUR TO SPREAD THE HIGH WIND WARNING FARTHER EAST. LATER SHIFTS WILL NEED TO MONITOR THE SITUATION CLOSELY. BLANK SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...A RATHER DISORGANIZED FLOW PATTERN WILL PERSIST THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. SOME INDUCED RIDGING WILL OCCUR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY BEFORE THE NEXT SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS THE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT. STRONG WINDS ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS FRONTAL PASSAGE...HOWEVER WINDS CURRENTLY ARE NOT ANTICIPATED TO REACH HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA. NOT EXPECTING TOO MUCH PRECIPITATION WITH EITHER SYSTEM...THE HIGHER TERRAIN ESPECIALLY THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT APPEARS TO BE THE MOST FAVORED FOR ANY WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS. HOWEVER IT CURRENTLY APPEARS AS IF LITTLE TO NO PRECIPITATION OF ANY KIND IS PREDICTED OVER THE HIGH PLAINS BY THE LONG TERM MODELS FOR THESE SYSTEMS. SUK && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1810Z. VFR CONDITIONS WILL GENERALLY CONTINUE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL... CENTRAL...AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY...UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED BELOW. THE SOMEWHAT MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE AREA WILL CAUSE SCATTERED HIGH LEVEL CLOUDINESS FOR MOST OF THE PERIOD. SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL REMAIN BREEZY THROUGH THE PERIOD. GUSTY WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS OVER THE PLAINS OF NORTH CENTRAL AND CENTRAL MONTANA...AS GUSTS THERE COULD REACH 25 TO 35 KT. HOWEVER...ALONG THE EAST SLOPES OF THE ROCKIES...GUSTS COULD REACH 40 TO 50 KT THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY. THE SOUTHWEST VALLEYS MAY RECEIVE GUSTY WINDS THIS AFTERNOON AS WELL...BUT IT WILL NOT BE AS PERSISTENT. WINDS WILL INCREASE AGAIN MOST AREAS TOWARD 12Z FRIDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE TROUGH APPROACHES THE AREA WITH INCREASING MID LEVEL CLOUDINESS AND SCATTERED MAINLY MOUNTAIN SHOWERS. THESE SHOWERS MAY ALSO CAUSE SOME MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION. COULSTON && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 44 56 34 51 / 0 10 10 0 CTB 43 52 32 47 / 10 10 10 10 HLN 40 54 33 50 / 0 40 10 10 BZN 36 59 32 54 / 0 40 30 10 WEY 25 44 19 39 / 0 60 60 30 DLN 34 52 28 47 / 0 40 20 10 HVR 38 60 31 54 / 0 10 0 0 LWT 40 58 30 51 / 0 10 10 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 5 AM TO 5 PM MST FRIDAY FOR MTZ010. HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 5 PM MST FRIDAY FOR MTZ009-048. && SHORT TERM...BLANK LONG TERM...COULSTON AVIATION...COULSTON WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 421 AM MST THU NOV 5 2009 MTZ009-010-048-061230- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER- SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 421 AM MST THU NOV 5 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WINDS WILL INCREASE ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT BEGINNING AT 2 PM MST. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION EARLY FRIDAY MORNING WITH HIGH WINDS CONTINUING ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND SPREADING OUT OVER THE PLAINS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. THE HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON. A HIGH WIND WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE CUT BANK AREA BEGINNING AT 5 AM MST FRIDAY AND CONTINUING THROUGH LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ012>014-044>046-049-050-054-061230- CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-TOOLE- LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-MEAGHER- 421 AM MST THU NOV 5 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 FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WINDS WILL INCREASE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA THURSDAY EVENING...AND A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. BEHIND THE COLD FRONT...STRONG WINDS COULD SPREAD OUT ACROSS THE PLAINS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA DURING THE DAY ON FRIDAY. THE SITUATION WILL BE MONITORED FOR POSSIBLE HIGHLIGHTS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MTZ008-011-015-047-051>053-055-061230- BEAVERHEAD-HILL-MADISON-BLAINE-FERGUS-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER- GALLATIN- 421 AM MST THU NOV 5 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...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY 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.
7 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust to 63 mph was reported at the Two Medicine DOT site.
A wind gust to 58 mph was reported at Townsend 8W (the Elkhorn RAWS site - elevation 6010 feet).
A wind gust to 60 mph was reported at the Cut Bank ASOS site.
A wind gust to 63 mph was reported at the Denton DOT site.
A wind gust to 67 mph was reported at Geyser 6E.
A wind gust to 60 mph was reported at Roy 2E.
A wind gust to 64 mph was reported at Chinook 11S.
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 202276, 202280, 202277, 202278, 202279, 202281, 202282.