A strong westerly flow aloft resulted in high winds in Glacier National Park. Wind gusts in excess of 80 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.
A strong westerly flow aloft resulted in high winds in Glacier National Park. Wind gusts in excess of 80 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 Sep 26, 10:05 PM MST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 1105 PM MDT MON SEP 26 2011 AVIATION SECTION UPDATED .UPDATE...MADE MINOR TWEAKS TO EVENING WIND FORECAST TO GO ALONG WITH MOST RECENT OBSERVATIONS. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW ANOTHER BURST OF WINDS OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT LATE TONIGHT AND ON TUESDAY. HAVE MADE TWEAKS TO WIND AND WIND GUSTS IN THIS AREA TO ENSURE THAT THEY ARE IN LINE WITH EXPECTED HIGH WIND WARNING WORDING. REMAINDER OF FORECAST CONTINUES TO LOOK GOOD WITH INCREASING CLOUDS OVER MY NORTHWEST ZONES AND CONTINUED WARM TEMPERATURES THROUGH TUESDAY. MPJ && .AVIATION... UPDATED 0500Z. QUIET WEATHER WITH VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OVER THE REGION THROUGH THE PERIOD. BREEZY/WINDY CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED AT TIMES...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING HOURS ON TUESDAY. ALSO...EXPECT HIGH CLOUDS TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD OVER THE REGION AFTER 17Z TUE. BRUSDA && .FIRE WEATHER... BORDERLINE FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS MAY RETURN TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA...SPECIFICALLY BLAINE AND FERGUS COUNTIES. STRONG WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED AS CONDITIONS MAY CREATE CONCERNS. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 615 PM MDT MON SEP 26 2011/ TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...BREEZY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS ALONG THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. HAVE CONTINUED THE HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THIS AREA AS WINDS CONTINUE TO BE STRONG. MODELS INDICATE WINDS MAY DECREASE SOME THIS AFTERNOON BUT SHOULD PICK UP ONCE AGAIN TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. TUESDAY REMAINS DRY WITH ANY PRECIPITATION CONFINED TO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. WEDNESDAY WILL SEE ANOTHER DRY COLD FRONT MOVE ACROSS THE AREA. COOLER AIR AND GUSTY WINDS WILL ACCOMPANY FRONTAL PASSAGE. TEMPERATURES LOOK TO REMAIN ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES TODAY AND TUESDAY WHILE DROPPING BACK TO NEAR SEASONAL AVERAGES WEDNESDAY. WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT...THERE CONTINUES TO BE GOOD AGREEMENT AMONG THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS FOR A GENERALLY DRY FORECAST SOLUTION INTO SATURDAY...BUT THEY DIFFER BEGINNING LATER SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. AN EXITING SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL CAUSE A NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY FOR CONTINUED COOL (NEAR NORMAL) TEMPERATURES WITH A DECREASING CHANCE OF MOUNTAIN SHOWERS. IN THE WAKE OF THIS SHORTWAVE...THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL REBUILD INTO THE STATE FOR THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. SOUTHERLY/SOUTHWESTERLY DOWNSLOPING SURFACE WINDS WILL INCREASE DURING THIS TIME...KEEPING THE AREA DRY AND ALLOWING TEMPERATURES TO WARM BACK TO BETWEEN 10 AND 15 DEGREES ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. AT THIS POINT...THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE APPROACHES THE PACIFIC COAST...WITH THE GFS EJECTING A SHORTWAVE FROM THE UPPER TROUGH...TO BRING A CHANCE OF MAINLY MOUNTAIN PRECIPITATION WITH SLIGHTLY BELOW CLIMATOLOGICAL POPS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY...WHILE THE ECMWF KEEPS THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE UPPER RIDGE AND DRY CONDITIONS OVER THE REGION. THE MODELS COME INTO BETTER AGREEMENT LATE SUNDAY INTO MONDAY WHEN THEY BRING A STRONGER PACIFIC TROUGH THROUGH THE NORTHERN ROCKIES...PRODUCING WIDER COVERAGE OF LIGHT RAIN AND COOLING TEMPERATURES CLOSE TO SEASONAL AVERAGES. COULSTON/WARANAUSKAS && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 51 81 47 66 / 0 0 0 0 CTB 46 71 42 61 / 10 0 0 0 HLN 47 80 46 69 / 0 0 0 0 BZN 42 82 40 72 / 0 0 0 0 WEY 29 70 31 66 / 0 0 0 0 DLN 44 79 43 73 / 0 0 0 0 HVR 46 83 44 66 / 0 0 0 0 LWT 45 82 43 69 / 0 0 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT TUESDAY NIGHT NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. && WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 554 AM MDT MON SEP 26 2011 MTZ009-271200- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 554 AM MDT MON SEP 26 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT TUESDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MTZ008-010>015-044>055-271200- BEAVERHEAD-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- 554 AM MDT MON SEP 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...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY 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 84 mph was reported at Saint Mary 13W (the Logan Pass Visitor Center in Glacier National Park).
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, September 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: 346384.