High winds developed over the Northern and Southern Rocky Mountain zones.
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.
High winds developed over the Northern and Southern Rocky Mountain zones.
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 Jun 17, 4:55 AM MST, 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 555 AM MDT SUN JUN 17 2012 ...UPDATE TO AVIATION... .DISCUSSION... TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY...CURRENT RADAR SHOWS RAIN SHOWERS OVER PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA THIS MORNING AS A BROAD TROUGH MOVES OVER THE AREA. KEPT SCATTERED AND LIKELY SHOWERS OVER THE NORTHERN CWA THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON...HOWEVER STRONG DOWNSLOPING WESTERLY WINDS WILL LIMIT ANY DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS AND LIMIT HEAVY PRECIPITATION AT THE LOWER ELEVATIONS. EXPECT GUSTY WESTERLY WINDS APPROACHING 45 MPH IN THE NW MOUNTAINS...AND HIGHER TERRAIN OVER THE NORTH. EXPECT 30 MPH OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS LATER THIS MORNING AND REMAIN STRONG THROUGH LATE SUNDAY EVENING. EXPECT SEASONAL TEMPERATURES ON SUNDAY. BY MONDAY THE NEXT SHORTWAVE TROUGH APPROACHES THE AREA AND SHOULD ALLOW FOR SOME UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. CURRENT MODEL CONVECTIVE PARAMETERS APPEAR TO BE TOO LOW TO CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES ON MONDAY WILL BE MUCH COOLER...ABOUT 10 DEGREES BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES. BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL START TO PUSH OUT OF THE AREA. EXPECT LINGERING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON TUESDAY AS CONDITIONS LOOK TO BE A LITTLE UNSTABLE...MOSTLY WITH MU CAPE VALUES REACHING 700 J/KG OVER THE NE...HOWEVER SHEAR VALUES WILL BE WEAK...SO NOT ANTICIPATING SVR THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN COOL...ABOUT 10 DEGREES BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES ON TUESDAY. MERCER TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...FORECAST AREA IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN BENEATH THE INFLUENCE OF A BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY BEFORE THE FLOW ALOFT BECOMES ZONAL WEDNESDAY NIGHT. AS A RESULT...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. BY THURSDAY AN UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE RIDGE BUILDS OVER CENTRAL MONTANA WITH TEMPERATURES EXPECTED TO REBOUND BACK INTO THE LOW 80S BY FRIDAY. THE RIDGE PROGRESSES EASTWARD QUITE RAPIDLY AS A CLOSED LOW DEVELOPS ALONG THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST. THIS FEATURE SHOULD PROVIDE A MOIST AND UNSTABLE SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION PROVIDING ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY WITH TEMPERATURES REMAINING AROUND SEASONAL AVERAGES. MPJ && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1155Z. WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WITH EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES WILL PREVAIL ACROSS MONTANA THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. A SURFACE COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT. BEHIND THE FRONT GUSTY WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. ONLY MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS ARE EXPECTED DURING THE PERIOD SO VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL AT TERMINALS WITH AREAS OF OBSCURATIONS POSSIBLE IN THE MOUNTAINS AT TIMES. MPJ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 75 48 64 44 / 60 20 40 50 CTB 70 46 60 43 / 60 20 50 60 HLN 77 49 63 44 / 50 10 40 40 BZN 80 43 67 39 / 20 20 20 40 WEY 73 40 63 35 / 10 10 20 20 DLN 79 42 65 37 / 10 10 20 30 HVR 76 50 68 46 / 70 20 50 50 LWT 73 45 64 41 / 50 20 30 40 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...MERCER LONG TERM...MPJ AVIATION...MPJ WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Wind gust to 56 KT (64MPH) was measured at the Deep Creek RAWS site. Two medicine DOT site was also above warning criteria at the time.
Wind gusts to 56 KT (64MPH) were reported at the Logan Pass Visitor Center.
Wind gusts up to 53KT (61MPH) were reported at the Gates Park RAWS site.
Wind gusts to 56KT (64MPH) were reported at the Dellwo MSCN site.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, June 2012
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: 396848, 396851, 396853, 396858.