Cattle struck by lightning standing near a fence.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 GGW wrote it up.
Cattle struck by lightning standing near a fence.
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 13, 10:53 PM MST, 52 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 1153 PM MDT MON JUN 13 2011 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY... SENT ANOTHER UPDATE TO THE GRIDS TONIGHT AS THE VERY HEAVY RAIN GETS GOING BETWEEN 05Z AND 06Z OVER OUR FAR SOUTHEASTERN ZONES. BROUGHT THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH OVER THERE BEGINNING AT 05Z AND CANCELLING IT FOR GARFIELD COUNTY. BASICALLY TRYING TO STAY JUST AHEAD OF THE HIGH POPS AND POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODING DOWN THERE. BMICKELSON UPDATE SENT TONIGHT TO RE-ADJUST THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH AND GIVE SOME FINER TUNING TO THE FIRST PERIOD GRIDS REGARDING CURRENT AND EXPECTED RADAR REFLECTIVITY TRENDS AND A BREEZY OUTFLOW BOUNDARY. I ANTICIPATE THAT MORE OF THE HEAVY RAIN FALL WILL BE OVER OUR SOUTHEASTERN AND EASTERN ZONES OVERNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. BMICKELSON PREVIOUS SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...THE NARROW UPPER LEVEL RIDGE THAT BROUGHT A DRY AND QUIET DAY TO NORTHEAST MONTANA TODAY WILL MOVE EAST AS THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. THIS WILL INTRODUCE ANOTHER ROUND OF CONVECTIVE RAIN SHOWERS THAT MAY BECOME A MORE STRATIFORM RAIN EVENT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. THE MAIN QUESTION IS HOW MUCH RAIN THE DIFFERENT AREAS WILL RECEIVE. AS USUAL...THE GFS AND NAM HAVE DIFFERENT TIMING WITH THE NAM QUICKER. THE 12Z GEM AND THE 00Z EC TIMING IS SIMILAR TO THE NAM...BUT THE GFS HAS BEEN MORE CONSISTENT. SO WILL HAVE TO GO WITH A BLEND OF POPS AND QPF. IN ALL CASES THE STORM GAINS STRENGTH AS IT PROGRESSES EAST THROUGH TUESDAY. QPF AMOUNTS ARE SUBSTANTIAL AND COULD AMOUNT TO A HALF INCH TO AN INCH OR MORE. WITH SATURATED GROUND FROM ALL THE RECENT RAINFALL...A SEGMENTED FLASH FLOOD WATCH ONCE AGAIN IS IN ORDER BEGINNING TONIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH TUESDAY. WESTERLY WIND WILL STRENGTHEN ON TUESDAY BUT THE STRONGEST WIND LOOKS LIKE IT WILL TREND SOUTH OF FORT PECK LAKE. SO WILL HOLD OFF FOR NOW IN ISSUING A LAKE WIND ADVISORY TO LET THE NIGHT SHIFT LOOK AT THE WINDS ONCE MORE. LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...THE AREA SQUEEZES INTO ANOTHER NARROW RIDGE BETWEEN THE DEPARTING STORM AND THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH. THIS WILL PRODUCE ANOTHER DRY SUNNY DAY WITH NO WEATHER ISSUES EXCEPT THE CONTINUING FLOODING. OVERALL WENT WITH A BLEND OF BIASED MAV AND MET MOS FOR TEMPERATURES SCT .LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY... UPDATE...GOING FORECAST IN OVERALL EXCELLENT SHAPE. THE DIFFERENT EXTENDED RANGE FORECAST MODELS CONTINUE TO AGREE IN AN ONGOING ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN THANKS TO A DOMINANT UPPER LOW. HOWEVER...THEY CONTINUE TO BE OUT OF PHASE WITH ONE ANOTHER REGARDING TIMING OF THE ASSOCIATED PRECIPITATION. THUS KEPT THE GOING FORECAST LARGELY UNCHANGED DEPICTING BROADBRUSHED SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES AND BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. GILCHRIST PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...A SLOW MOVING UPPER LOW WILL DOMINATE MOST POSSIBLY ALL OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD. MODELS DIFFER ON THE CONFIGURATION OF THIS LOW AND THE TIMING OF THE SHORTWAVES ROTATING AROUND THIS LOW. THE LOW ITSELF LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE CENTERED IN ALBERTA WITH A BROAD TROUGH TO THE SOUTH COVERING MOST OF THE WESTERN U.S. THIS WILL LEAVE EASTERN MONTANA IN SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THE GFS AND ECMWF TIME THE WAVES DIFFERENTLY SO THE TIMING OF THE WET VERSUS DRY PERIODS IN THIS PATTERN IS PROBLEMATIC. WILL LEAN TOWARDS A BROADBRUSH OF A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR THIS SYSTEM. MODELS EVENTUALLY MOVE THIS LOW TO THE NORTH OVER THE WEEKEND BUT ANOTHER UPPER TROUGH/LOW IMMEDIATELY COMES IN FROM THE WEST AND SETTLES INTO MONTANA/WYOMING KEEPING THE CHANCE OF RAIN GOING. FORRESTER && .AVIATION... FIRST ROUND OF SHOWERS IS MOVING THROUGH THE AREA THIS EVENING. VFR CONDITIONS SHOULD DOMINATE...AFTER 10Z LOOK FOR SOME POCKETS OF MVFR WITH HEAVIER SHOWERS. PROTON && .HYDROLOGY... EXTENSIVE FLOODING CONTINUES ON THE MILK RIVER FROM NEAR SACO THROUGH NASHUA. FLUCTUATIONS ARE EXPECTED IN RIVER LEVEL OVER THE NEXT WEEK AS RUNOFF FROM RECENT RAINS MOVES INTO AND DOWN THE RIVER. HIGH WATER ALSO WILL CONTINUE ON STREAMS FEEDING INTO THE MILK RIVER FROM THE SOUTH INCLUDING PEOPLES CREEK...BEAVER CREEK AND WILLOW CREEK. FLOODING ALSO CONTINUES ALONG THE MUSSELSHELL RIVER AND MANY CREEKS ACROSS PETROLEUM COUNTY. WATER RELEASES WILL CONTINUE FROM FORT PECK DAM AT AROUND 65K CFS. THE MISSOURI RIVER FROM BELOW THE DAM TO THE NORTH DAKOTA BORDER WILL CONTINUE TO RISE DUE TO THESE RELEASES COMBINED WITH THE HIGH WATER FLOWING FROM THE MILK RIVER. THE WEATHER PATTERN REMAINS SOMEWHAT ACTIVE WITH PERIODS OF RAIN THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEK. LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN WITH RAINFALL RATES OF MORE THAN AN INCH IN A SHORT TIME ARE POSSIBLE WITH THUNDERSTORMS THIS WEEK. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA FROM THIS EVENING INTO TUESDAY. && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON FOR DANIELS... SHERIDAN...WESTERN ROOSEVELT...RICHLAND...EASTERN ROOSEVELT. FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING FOR MCCONE...DAWSON... PRAIRIE...WIBAUX. && WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 246 PM MDT MON JUN 13 2011 MTZ016>027-059>062-141215- CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PHILLIPS-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY- DANIELS-SHERIDAN-WESTERN ROOSEVELT-PETROLEUM-GARFIELD-MCCONE- RICHLAND-DAWSON-PRAIRIE-WIBAUX-NORTHERN PHILLIPS- SOUTHWEST PHILLIPS-NORTHERN VALLEY-EASTERN ROOSEVELT- 246 PM MDT MON JUN 13 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SMALL CREEKS...STREAMS AND RIVERS WILL CONTINUE TO RUN HIGH ACROSS THE REGION. FLOODING IS OCCURRING ALONG THE MILK... MISSOURI AND MUSSELSHELL RIVERS...AS WELL AS ON STREAMS AND CREEKS FLOWING INTO THESE RIVERS. A STORM SYSTEM WILL SPREAD SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF RAINFALL ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING EXISTS. THUS...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY FLOODING WILL PERSIST ON NUMEROUS STREAMS AND CREEKS FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE DUE TO THE SATURATED GROUND CONDITIONS AND THE GENERALLY WET WEATHER PATTERN EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. WESTERLY WIND WILL INCREASE TUESDAY TO AROUND 15-20KTS. THE STRONGEST WIND WILL LIKELY REMAIN SOUTH OF THE THE MISSOURI RIVER. A LAKE WIND ADVISORY FOR FORT PECK LAKE MAY BE NECESSARY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
1055 PM MDT MON JUN 13 2011
MTZ026-140600-
PRAIRIE-
1055 PM MDT MON JUN 13 2011
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GLASGOW HAS ISSUED A
SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR...
WESTERN PRAIRIE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST MONTANA...
UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT.
AT 1048 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 19 MILES SOUTHWEST OF TERRY...MOVING NORTH AT 25
MPH.
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH. THIS STORM WILL
PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.
LOCATIONS IN THE ADVISORY INCLUDE...
MCCLOUD...
THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND
TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
LAT...LON 4666 10559 4674 10558 4675 10563 4682 10562
4683 10574 4718 10558 4719 10540 4716 10532
4698 10533 4698 10530 4665 10554 4665 10557
TIME...MOT...LOC 0453Z 202DEG 23KT 4670 10565
PROTON
WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOWThe Glasgow radar (KGGW), 232 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:46 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Twenty one heifers were killed when lightning struck south-southwest of Wibaux. The heifers were generally lined up along a fence line, but there were six of them that were scattered up to 75 yards away. Some of the fencing was also knocked down. There were a total of 51 heifers in the pasture.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, June 2011
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: 341064.