High winds developed over the Rocky Mountain Front and some portions of Central Montana.
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 Rocky Mountain Front and some portions of Central Montana.
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 Feb 12, 4:45 PM MST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 445 PM MST Tue Feb 12 2013 Aviation section updated .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Thursday...A strong surface pressure gradient will remain over a large portion of Central Montana causing strong winds across the region. The high wind warning in effect will be continued. Strong winds will spread east Tuesday night and have thus upgraded the high wind watch to a warning for portions of Fergus, Meagher, Judith Basin and Cascade counties. Higher terrain in these areas will be the most likely to see gusts above warning criteria although widespread elevated winds will be seen. A weak shortwave will move across the area early Wednesday but precipitation chances will likely remain confined to terrain of Western and Southwestern Montana. Although precipitation amounts will remain low, widespread light precipitation is possible over Southwest Montana into Thursday. Temperatures look to remain warm tomorrow before noticeably cooling off Thursday in response to the previously mentioned shortwave. Thursday night through Tuesday night...Forecast models continue to be in good agreement with each other and with the consistency of the overall forecast through this period. This leads to greater confidence in the forecast and an overall increasing of the chance for precipitation when forecasted. A moist northerly flow aloft will keep at least a chance of snow showers in mountains Thursday night. An upper level ridge of high pressure will then build into Montana for Friday through Saturday. As a result, breezy down-sloping westerly winds will keep the area mostly dry as temperatures warm to about 10 degrees above seasonal averages by Saturday. A shortwave trough moving southeast out of the Gulf of Alaska will break down the upper level ridge and move through the area Saturday night through Sunday, bringing an increasing chance of snow to the area. The best chance for snow will be on Sunday with the passage of an associated cold front. As mentioned above, models have been consistent with this system and its timing, so have increased mention of snow to likely across the area. The passage of the cold front will also cool temperatures to slightly below normal levels for Sunday and Sunday night. The upper level ridge will then rebuild briefly over the area Monday/Monday night keeping the only chance for snow in the mountains and warming temperatures back above normal. However, another disturbance from the Gulf of Alaska will move into the area for Tuesday/Tuesday night for another chance of snow across most of the area. Coulston && .AVIATION... Updated 2345Z. With a brisk northwesterly flow aloft...VFR conditions will prevail over much of the region tonight. However...expect increasing chances for lowering ceilings and some mountain precip to develop by 12z Wed. The precip will become a bit more widespread during the day on Wed over SW MT...with some IFR conditions expected in/near shower activity. Also mountains could become obscured at times over much of SW MT on Wednesday. Brusda && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 36 47 23 34 / 0 20 10 10 CTB 32 49 17 35 / 10 10 20 20 HLN 30 44 26 36 / 10 50 30 40 BZN 20 38 20 32 / 10 40 40 50 WEY 7 29 11 27 / 30 60 40 30 DLN 23 43 22 34 / 10 40 30 40 HVR 30 38 12 28 / 0 20 20 10 LWT 28 37 16 28 / 10 30 30 30 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING until 5 PM MST Wednesday Eastern Glacier... Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. HIGH WIND WARNING from 11 PM this evening to 8 PM MST Wednesday Blaine...Cascade...Chouteau...Fergus...Judith Basin...Meagher. && weather.gov/greatfalls
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 520 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013 MTZ009-010-048-132200- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER- SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 520 PM MST TUE FEB 12 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. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR BLOWING SNOW IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF THE REGION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY A HIGH WIND WARNING AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR BLOWING SNOW REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR PORTIONS OF THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED. REPORTS OF STRONG WINDS OR WIND DAMAGE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. MTZ012-013-047-050-051-054-132200- CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-BLAINE-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER- 520 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT BEGINNING AT 11 PM MST TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM MST WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED. REPORTS OF STRONG WINDS OR WIND DAMAGE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. MTZ008-011-014-015-044>046-049-052-053-055-132200- BEAVERHEAD-HILL-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON- TOOLE-LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-EASTERN TETON-JEFFERSON-BROADWATER- GALLATIN- 520 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
439 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0400 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 8 SE EAST GLACIER PARK 48.37N 113.10W
02/12/2013 M81 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
WIND GUSTS NEAR 81 MPH AT THE DEEP CREEK RAWS LOCATION.
SUSTAINED WINDS CURRENTLY BETWEEN 50 AND 57 MPH. TIME OF
EVENT IS ESTIMATED.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
535 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 PM NON-TSTM WND GST HEART BUTTE 48.29N 112.84W
02/12/2013 M59 MPH PONDERA MT MESONET
59 MPH WIND GUST AT THE HEART BUTTE RAWS. TIME OF EVENT
IS ESTIMATED.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
556 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0425 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 E EAST GLACIER PARK 48.45N 113.19W
02/12/2013 M55 MPH GLACIER MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
55 MPH WIND GUST AT THE DOT SENSOR JUST EAST OF EAST
GLACIER PARK.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
647 PM MST TUE FEB 12 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM NON-TSTM WND GST HEART BUTTE 48.29N 112.84W
02/12/2013 M61 MPH PONDERA MT MESONET
61 MPH WIND GUST IN HEART BUTTE. TIME OF EVENT IS
ESTIMATED.
&&
BRUSDA17 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High winds of 54KT (62MPH) were measured at the Cut Bank Airport 3 miles SW of Cut Bank, MT.
High winds of 59KT (68MPH) were measured 24 miles WSW of Choteau, MT.
High winds of 77KT (89MPH) were measured at Babb, MT.
High winds of 50KT (58MPH) were measured at the Browning Airport 6 miles WNW of Browning, MT.
High winds of 50KT (58MPH) were measured in Choteau, MT.
High winds of 60KT (69MPH) were measured at Millegan 21 miles SE of Cascade, MT.
High winds of 50KT (58MPH) were measured at the Sweetgrass DOT station 6 miles NNW of Sunburst, MT.
High winds of 51KT (59MPH) were measured at the Pendroy DOT sensor 2 miles NW of Pendroy, MT.
High sustained winds of 38KT (44MPH) were measured at 8 miles WNW of Whitlash, MT.
High winds of 58KT (67MPH) were measured at Heart Butte.
High winds of 63KT (72MPH) were measured at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch 17 miles W of Pendroy.
High winds of 66KT (76MPH) were measured at Dellwo 13 miles W of Bynum, MT.
High winds of 63KT (73MPH) were measured 8 miles WNW of Whitlash, MT.
High winds of 60KT (69MPH) were measured 13 miles S of Fort Belknap, MT at the Fort Belknap RAWS site.
High winds of 52KT (60MPH) were measured 24 miles WSW of Choteau, MT.
High winds of 59KT (68MPH) were measured at the Deep Creek RAWS site 8 miles SE of East Glacier Park.
High winds of 51KT (60MPH) were measured at Dellwo 13 miles W of Bynum, 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, February 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: 437294, 437295, 437296, 437492, 437493, 437496, 437497, 437495, 437498, 437292, 437293, 437491, 437494, 437499, 437500, 437501, 437875.