High winds developed over the rocky Mountain Front.
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.
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 2, 4:35 PM MST, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 435 PM MST Sat Feb 2 2013 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Monday...Coastal ridge upper air pattern will continue to provide generally dry and mild conditions. Weak shortwave energy will move through the flow periodically but will mainly affect the Rocky Mountains. A lee side trof will develop Sunday night with breezy conditions along the east slopes. Wind speeds should remain below warning criteria. Temperatures will remain above seasonal averages to start the week. Emanuel Monday night through Saturday...Models are in good agreement on general trends during the period. Tuesday an upper ridge will move into central Montana. No precipitation is expected with the possible exception of the Rocky Mountain Front. Late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning models forecast a weak weather disturbance aloft to affect the forecast area. Expect scattered snow showers over the mountains with isolated snow showers for the southwest valleys. The plains should remain dry. Then Wednesday night expect a repeat of what was mentioned above for Tuesday. Later in the week a deep upper trough will develop over the western U.S. Models have come into better agreement in keeping most of the moisture and energy with this trough south of Montana however there will be a chance of snow showers over southwest Montana and the western mountains. On Saturday a strong upper ridge is forecast to extend from the eastern Pacific into British Columbia. Meanwhile a weather disturbance aloft will be moving south through central Canada. By this time the models do differ on the position of this weather disturbance but any associated precipitation should stay well away from northern Montana. As has been advertised for several days high temperatures should cool later in the week. Blank && .AVIATION... Updated 2335z. VFR conditions will prevail through the forecast period. High clouds will increase as a weak disturbance approaches the area late tonight. A lee side trough of low pressure will deepen as the disturbance moves trough early Sunday morning, resulting in a period of gusty westerly winds over the plains from KCTB to KGTF where winds will gust over 30 knots, a few gusts to 40 KTS are possible. Winds will diminish around 18Z Sunday. Langlieb && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 33 48 33 48 / 0 0 0 10 CTB 30 47 29 46 / 0 0 0 10 HLN 18 42 26 44 / 0 0 10 10 BZN 9 39 21 41 / 0 0 0 10 WEY 1 31 9 30 / 0 0 10 20 DLN 16 39 24 40 / 0 0 10 10 HVR 18 39 18 41 / 0 0 0 10 LWT 22 44 25 43 / 0 0 0 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...EMANUEL LONG TERM...BLANK AVIATION...LANGLIEB weather.gov/greatfalls
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 340 AM MST SAT FEB 2 2013 MTZ008>015-044>055-031045- 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- 340 AM MST SAT FEB 2 2013 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...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High winds of 55KT (64MPH) were measured at the Deep Creek RAWS 8 miles SE of Glacier Park.
High winds of 50KT (58MPH) were measured at Gibson Dam 19 miles NW of Augusta.
High winds of 65KT (75MPH) were measured at Teton Pass Ski Area 31 miles WNW of Choteau.
High winds of 50KT (58MPH) were measured at the Nutmeg Ranch 15 miles WNW of Choteau.
High winds of 52KT (60MPH) were measured at Heart Butte.
High winds of 52KT (60MPH) were measured at the Teton Pass Ski Area 31 miles WNW of Choteau, 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: 437286, 437288, 437287, 437289, 437290, 437291.