High westerly winds affected all of the NWS Great Falls warning area in late-April with impacts to travel, especially for high-profile vehicles.
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 westerly winds affected all of the NWS Great Falls warning area in late-April with impacts to travel, especially for high-profile vehicles.
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 Apr 28, 4:45 PM MST, 36 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 545 PM MDT Sun Apr 28 2013 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Tuesday...An active weather regime will return to Montana overnight as another shortwave approaches the region. Once again, surface pressure will fall in Alberta as the upper wave approaches, allowing pressure gradients to tighten along the Rocky Mountain Front. Gusty winds develop along the front range in response to the strong pressure differential and are then reinforced by strong mid-level winds and downward motion in the atmosphere. A significant cold front will sweep through the remainder of my forecast area on Monday with high winds spreading south and east through the day. The current High Wind Warning looks appropriate for the situation and will be continued as-is. Behind the front, a cold airmass will settle over Montana for much cooler temperatures on Tuesday with low level upslope flow bringing a likelihood of precipitation to the Rocky Mountain Front. Scattered to Numerous showers and even a few thunderstorms will prevail at lower elevations as the airmass will be slightly unstable. At this time it does not appear that any winter weather highlights will be required but several inches of snow should be expected in the mountains. mpj Tuesday Evening through Sunday...By Tues evening, much of the energy and moisture associated with the weather system described in the short-term forecast discussion will be downstream or gradually dissipating over central and southwest MT. Latest GFS and ECMWF solutions indicate some light residual showers continuing along the Rocky Mtn Front and over the southwest mtns, but precipitation amounts will be minimal. The cool Canadian airmass will remain in place through Wed, with high temperatures only reaching the low/mid 50s. The return to dry and spring-like conditions begins Thurs as a strong high pressure ridge builds into the northern Rockies and remains over MT through next weekend. A weak upper-level trof is still projected to skirt the northeast flank of the ridge Fri eve into Sat morning, bring some spotty showers. The models disagree on the precipitation coverage, with the GFS indicating showers along the length of the Interstate 15 corridor while the ECMWF has less coverage and keeps the precip mainly east of Great Falls. Current forecast grids are a compromise, carrying only a slight chance of showers primarily just over the central and southwest mtns. Steady warm air advection will keep high temps in the mid to upper 60s for Thursday through Sunday, with a few sites in the central plains and southwest valleys reaching the low 70s over the weekend. Waranauskas && .AVIATION... UPDATED 2345z. The main forecast problem will continue to be the winds. The lightest winds will be early this evening. Winds are expected to increase over the east slopes after midnight then late tonight or early Monday morning for other areas. Winds will become very strong by Monday afternoon. Although not noted in all the taf forecasts there will be a threat of sustained winds of 35 knots and wind gusts to 50 knots. Also not indicated in the tafs there will be a threat of MVFR and locally IFR visibilities in blowing dust over the plains by Monday afternoon. Otherwise expect VFR conditions over the plains. A weather system will bring snow to the western mountains after midnight with areas of mountain obscurement. This will continue into Monday afternoon. For other areas expect scattered showers but scattered snow showers over the mountains after 12z Monday. Finally there will be a threat of thunderstorms Monday afternoon at all taf sites. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 43 56 28 41 / 10 40 30 60 CTB 38 51 24 39 / 10 30 30 40 HLN 41 55 30 42 / 10 40 20 30 BZN 35 60 26 43 / 10 40 30 30 WEY 31 54 21 41 / 20 40 30 40 DLN 37 58 25 44 / 10 30 10 20 HVR 43 59 28 46 / 10 40 30 30 LWT 38 55 26 39 / 10 40 30 60 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING from 6 AM Monday to Midnight MDT Monday Night Blaine...Cascade...Central and Southern Lewis and Clark... Chouteau...Eastern Glacier...Eastern Pondera...Eastern Teton... Fergus...Hill...Judith Basin...Liberty...Meagher...Toole. HIGH WIND WARNING from 9 AM Monday to Midnight MDT Monday Night Beaverhead...Broadwater...Gallatin...Jefferson...Madison. HIGH WIND WARNING from 6 PM this evening to Midnight MDT Monday Night Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && weather.gov/greatfalls
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 318 PM MDT SUN APR 28 2013 MTZ009-048-291200- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 318 PM MDT SUN APR 28 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT IS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ANY REPORTS OF STRONG WINDS AND/OR WIND DAMAGE RELAYED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. MTZ010>014-044>047-049>051-054-291200- EASTERN GLACIER-HILL-CASCADE-CHOUTEAU- CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-TOOLE-LIBERTY- EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER- 318 PM MDT SUN APR 28 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER TONIGHT IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND CENTRAL MONTANA FROM 6 AM MDT MONDAY THROUGH MIDNIGHT MDT MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ANY REPORTS OF STRONG WINDS AND/OR WIND DAMAGE RELAYED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. MTZ008-015-052-053-055-291200- BEAVERHEAD-MADISON-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-GALLATIN- 318 PM MDT SUN APR 28 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER TONIGHT IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWEST MONTANA FROM 9 AM MDT MONDAY THROUGH MIDNIGHT MDT MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ANY REPORTS OF STRONG WINDS AND/OR WIND DAMAGE RELAYED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
337 PM MDT SUN APR 28 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0615 PM NON-TSTM WND DMG 5 SW CASCADE 47.22N 111.78W
04/27/2013 CASCADE MT NEWSPAPER
A SEMI TRACTOR-TRAILER WAS TOTALED WHEN IT WAS FLIPPED
OVER BY A STRONG GUST OF WIND
&&
BLANKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
607 PM MDT SUN APR 28 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0521 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 E EAST GLACIER PARK 48.45N 113.19W
04/28/2013 M61 MPH GLACIER MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
TWO MEDICINE DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION SITE SUSTAINED
WINDS WERE 45 MPH
&&
BLANK17 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Two Medicine DOT has a non-thunderstorm wind gust of 61 mph and sustained winds of 45 mph.
Non-thunderstorm wind gust of 64 mph measured at NWS Great Falls.
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 41 mph 17 miles north of Chester.
Non-thunderstorm wind gust of 58 mph measured at Geyser DOT.
Helena ASOS measures non-thunderstorm wind of 58 mph.
Trained spotter 10 miles south of Chinook measures 68 mph non-thunderstorm wind gust.
High sustained winds of 40KT (46MPH) were reported at the 7 Mile radio site on Weather underground 10 miles SSW of Choteau, MT.
Non-thunderstorm wind gust of 59 mph measured by a Mesonet weather station 1 mile north of Galata.
High winds of 59KT (68MPH) were reported at the Inverness DOT site 2 miles E of Inverness, MT.
High winds of 50KT (58MPH) were reported 6 miles W of Brady, MT.
High winds of 52KT (60MPH) were reported at the County Rd Dept Number 1 site on Weather Underground in Big Sandy, MT.
High winds of 54KT (62MPH) were reported at the DOT site 2 miles ESE of Denton, MT.
High winds of 53KT (61MPH) were reported at theAntelope RAWS site 4 miles NE of Lima, MT.
High winds of 56KT (64MPH) were reported at the Lewistown Airport ASOS.
High winds of 53KT (61MPH) were reported at the Fort Belknap RAWS site 13 miles S of Fort Belknap, MT.
High winds of 52KT (60MPH) were reported at the Alpha RAWS site 3 miles WNW of Raynesford, MT.
High winds of 59KT (68MPH) were reported at the Judith Peak RAWS site 7 miles SE of Hilger, MT.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2013
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: 448530, 448531, 448537, 448533, 449379, 448542, 448784, 448544, 448782, 448783, 448785, 448786, 448787, 448788, 448789, 448790, 448791.