Strong winds developed over favorable portions of the Northern Rockies and Central Montana resulting in many reports of high winds over consecutive days.
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.
Strong winds developed over favorable portions of the Northern Rockies and Central Montana resulting in many reports of high winds over consecutive days.
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 Jan 15, 4:21 AM MST, 2 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 421 AM MST Tue Jan 15 2013 UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION .DISCUSSION... Today through Thursday...An upper level ridge will remain in place along the west coast with northwest flow aloft continuing over Montana through the short term period. A surface low pressure trough in central Montana continues to bring strong and gusty winds to the Rocky Mountain Front while warm advection over my eastern plains is fueling areas of light snow early this morning. The warm frontal boundary will continue pushing east through the day but isolated to scattered residual showers behind the front will persist through the day. Moisture is expected to move out of the forecast area by tonight with mostly dry and much warmer conditions expected through Thursday. The strong winds along the Rocky Mountain Front will persist through late this evening, at least; but could persist into mid-day on Wednesday. At this time will keep the High Wind Warning ending time as-is, but subsequent shifts may need to extend the warning if winds remain elevated. mpj Thursday night through Tuesday...An upper level ridge with axis along the west coast will move little through early next week while a deep upper trough will remain over central and eastern Canada. An upper level jet maximum within the northwest flow aloft and a strong gradient between surface high pressure over the interior western U.S and low pressure over the Canadian prairies will produce windy and mild conditions over north central MT Thursday night and Friday with another round of strong winds possible along the Rocky Mtn Front. Models have come into better agreement for this weekend, showing a lobe of energy originating in the Arctic rotating around the western periphery of the Canadian Polar Vortex and bringing a surge of cold high pressure south to the east of the Rockies. First push of cold air will move south Friday night and Saturday with a second and potentially colder surge coming on Sunday. Main impact from this will be temperatures falling from nearly 15 degrees above average on Friday to much colder readings over the weekend. Moisture is very limited despite the airmass change but flurries or light snow showers will be possible at times through the weekend over north central MT due to upslope northerly flow and in the vicinity of the frontal boundary as it stalls over the central MT Mtns. The cold airmass looks to be short-lived as the upper ridge along the coast begins to move inland early next week with the cold surface high retreating to the east. Hoenisch && .AVIATION... Updated 1121z. Strong/moist north-northwest flow aloft will continue over the region through tonight. Gusty west winds will continue through the period at all north central MT terminals with strong winds along the Rocky Mtn Front and Adjacent plains. Blowing snow may also reduce visibility at times at the KCTB terminal. Moisture decreases through the period with areas of light snow diminishing through this morning. VFR conditions will generally prevail with local MVFR and mountain obscurations in areas of light snow through this morning. Hoenisch && .HYDROLOGY...A Flood Warning remains in effect for the Gallatin River near Logan due to an ice jam. The river remains just below flood stage and is forecast to slowly recede over the coming days. However, sudden rises and drops in river levels are possible with ice jams. Anyone near the river should exercise caution. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 40 28 44 29 / 10 0 0 0 CTB 38 25 41 25 / 10 0 0 0 HLN 28 11 29 10 / 10 0 0 0 BZN 21 2 26 1 / 20 0 0 0 WEY 11 -15 17 -19 / 30 10 0 0 DLN 22 6 32 7 / 10 0 0 0 HVR 41 20 40 16 / 30 0 0 0 LWT 39 23 41 19 / 30 0 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING until 11 PM MST this evening Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. FLOOD WARNING until further notice for the Gallatin River near Logan. && weather.gov/greatfalls
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 409 AM MST TUE JAN 15 2013 MTZ009-048-161200- NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT- 409 AM MST TUE JAN 15 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH TONIGHT. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS ALONG WITH AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW COULD CAUSE DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AT TIMES THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MTZ055-161200- GALLATIN- 409 AM MST TUE JAN 15 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AN ICE JAM HAS CAUSE RIVER LEVELS ON THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR LOGAN TO RISE NEAR FLOOD LEVEL. RIVER LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO FLUCTUATE NEAR FLOOD LEVEL THROUGH THE DAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY RIVER LEVELS ON THE GALLATIN RIVER NEAR LOGAN ARE FORECAST TO GRADUALLY DECLINE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. HOWEVER...ICE JAMS ARE UNPREDICTABLE...AND SUDDEN RISES AND FALLS IN THE RIVER LEVEL THAT COULD CAUSE DANGEROUS CONDITIONS SHOULD BE ANTICIPATED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MTZ008-010>015-044>047-049>054-161200- BEAVERHEAD-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL-CASCADE-CHOUTEAU- CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON-TOOLE-LIBERTY- EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS- JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-MEAGHER- 409 AM MST TUE JAN 15 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...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
334 AM MST TUE JAN 15 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0300 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 E EAST GLACIER PARK 48.45N 113.19W
01/15/2013 M58 MPH GLACIER MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
58 MPH WIND GUST AT THE TWO MEDICINE BRIDGE DOT SENSOR.
SUSTAINED WINDS OF 48 MPH.
&&
MPJ9 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High winds measuring 51KT (59MPH) were reported at the McDonald Pass DOT sensor.
High winds measuring 53KT (61MPH) were reported 24 miles WSW of Choteau, MT.
High winds measuring 50KT (58MPH) were reported 4 miles SSE of Bynum, MT.
High winds measuring 51KT (59MPH) were reported 15 miles SSE of Rocky Boy.
High winds measuring 60KT (69MPH) were reported 8 miles SE of E Glacier Park, MT at the Deep Creek RAWS.
High winds measuring 51KT (59MPH) were reported at the E Glacier Park DOT sensor.
High winds measuring 56KT (64MPH) were reported at the Cut Bank Airport.
High winds measuring 50KT (58MPH) were reported 21 miles SE of Cascade, MT at Millegan. High sustained winds were estimated around 39KT (45MPH) with a peak around 46KT (53MPH).
High winds measuring 50KT (58MPH) were reported 8 miles WNW of Whitlash, 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, January 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: 427609, 427601, 427602, 427603, 427604, 427605, 427606, 427607, 427608.