Stong westerly winds aloft resulted in high winds over the Southern 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.
Stong westerly winds aloft resulted in high winds over the Southern 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 Oct 26, 1:49 PM MST, 41 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 249 PM MDT WED OCT 26 2011 .DISCUSSION...A BRIEF UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL SHIFT OVER CENTRAL MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FAIRLY DRY AND STABLE CONDITIONS TONIGHT. THIS WILL CHANGE BY THURSDAY AS THE NEXT DISTURBANCE MOVES THROUGH THE FLOW. ITS MAIN IMPACTS WILL BE AN INCREASE IN WEST WINDS ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND THROUGH THE PLAINS THURSDAY...BECOMING GUSTY AT TIMES. IT STILL APPEARS THAT WHILE THE FLOW WILL REMAIN FAIRLY STRONG...NO WIND RELATED HIGHLIGHTS ARE ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. THE GOOD NEWS IS THIS PARTICULAR WAVE OF ENERGY CAUSING THE WINDS WILL ALSO BE SHORTLIVED....AS THE NEXT AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL REBUILD OVER THE REGION ON FRIDAY. FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...MEDIUM RANGE FORECAST PERIOD STARTS OFF WITH MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT. A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL BE OVER THE REGION FRIDAY NIGHT WITH A FAST APPROACHING SHORTWAVE TROUGH. THIS FEATURE WILL FORM A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IN ALBERTA FOR INCREASINGLY GUSTY WINDS OVERNIGHT. AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE FRONT SWEEPS ACROSS THE REGION SATURDAY BRINGING SCATTERED SHOWERS TO THE FORECAST AREA. SHORTWAVE RIDGING BUILDS OVER MONTANA FOR SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPERATURES AND DRY CONDITIONS ON SUNDAY. CONTINUED PROGRESSIVE FLOW ALOFT USHERS IN ANOTHER TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE FRONT BY MONDAY EVENING. MODELS HAVE SOME DISCREPANCIES IN TIMING AND MAGNITUDE FOR THIS TROUGH BUT BOTH CURRENTLY SHOWING CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE SETTLING OVER THE REGION TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT THEN MOVE IT QUICKLY EAST ON WEDNESDAY AS THE PROGRESSIVE FLOW ALOFT CONTINUES. AT THIS TIME HAVE NOT HIT THIS POTENTIAL SYSTEM TOO HARD BUT WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR MODEL CHANGES OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. && .AVIATION... A FAST MOVING PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL AFFECT AREA TERMINALS DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. AHEAD OF THE PRECIPITATION...WEST AND SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL INTENSIFY ACROSS THE NORTH CENTRAL PLAINS. GUSTS TO 30 KTS ARE EXPECTED FOR KCTB...KGTF...AND KHVR THROUGH ROUGHLY 27/0300Z. HEREAFTER...TERRAIN OBSCURATIONS WILL BECOME COMMONPLACE ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. ALL TERMINALS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED TO IMPACTED WITH LOW CLOUDS OR LOW CEILINGS DURING THIS TIME. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 30 49 26 55 / 10 10 0 0 CTB 26 47 24 54 / 10 10 0 0 HLN 25 48 22 54 / 10 10 0 0 BZN 18 48 17 54 / 10 10 0 0 WEY 12 38 13 41 / 0 10 0 10 DLN 21 46 21 50 / 10 10 10 0 HVR 26 51 23 55 / 10 10 0 10 LWT 24 46 21 53 / 10 10 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && DISCUSSION/AVIATION...DZ/LA
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 320 AM MDT WED OCT 26 2011 MTZ008>015-044>055-270930- BEAVERHEAD-NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL- CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON- TOOLE-LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE- SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS- JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-MEAGHER-GALLATIN- 320 AM MDT WED OCT 26 2011 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...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust to 58 mph was reported at Bynum 13W (the Dellwo MSCN site). A gust to 62 mph was also reported at the site.
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, October 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: 346526.