A few broken areas of instability and convective activity slowly worked east through the bringing brief heavy rain showers and thunderstorms to some areas.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
A few broken areas of instability and convective activity slowly worked east through the bringing brief heavy rain showers and thunderstorms to some areas.
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 Aug 3, 4:20 PM MST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 520 PM MDT Sun Aug 3 2014 .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Tuesday...Short term forecast period continues to be dominated by an upper level ridge over the western USA. As a result, very little change is expected in the day to day forecast. Very warm temperatures are expected each afternoon with winds remaining generally light. Afternoon and evening thunderstorms are expected each day...with isolated to scattered convection continuing through the overnight and morning hours. Southwest Montana should see the bulk of convection each day with numerous thunderstorms expected Monday and Tuesday evening. Locally heavy rain, small hail, gusty winds and occasional lightning strikes are expected to be the main threats with any storms that develop. mpj Tuesday Night through Sunday...A repeat of the current pattern continues through the long term. Warm temperatures and isolated to scattered thunderstorms will develop each afternoon, generally starting up over terrain. With the showery nature of monsoonal moisture, uncertainty remains with precipitation amounts and coverage. Areas near higher terrain have the best chance of seeing precipitation, namely the Continental Divide and Southwest Montana. Latest model runs suggest a stronger push of moisture in the Tue/Wed into Thu time frame. GFS brings in moisture over Southwest Montana by Tue whereas the ECM holds it off until Wed. There are also differences with placement as the ECM keeps moisture a little more confined to the southwest. Did not jump on either direction and went more in the middle of the two models. Flow may become more westerly by the end of next week as high pressure retreats southward a little bit. Not much in the way of weather is expected though. && .AVIATION... UPDATED 2320Z. VFR conditions are mostly expected across the area through the period, but brief IFR/MVFR conditions are possible with thunderstorms. A weak disturbance moving across north central (KCTB KHVR) and central (KGTF KLWT) Montana will bring isolated to scattered weak thunderstorms to these areas through around 03Z. The greatest concentration of storms is currently moving east between KGTF and KCTB and will likely remain between KHVR and KLWT. These storms will likely produce brief heavy rain, small hail, and gusty winds. However, the main impact on terminals will likely remain gusty winds, so have only included that in the TAFs. Moisture is also currently moving north to around the southern MT/ID border, bringing thunderstorms there, but these storms will likely not reach KBZN or KHLN, so have left the mention of storms out of those areas tonight. However, this moisture will advance north into southwest and central Montana on Monday as an upper low moves north through the Great Basin. This will bring an increased chance of storms as far north as a KGTF-KLWT line after 20Z. A weak area of low pressure will also slowly move east into far northwest Montana through the period, bringing a chance of isolated storms to the KCTB terminal area after 20Z. Coulston && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 58 86 59 84 / 20 20 40 30 CTB 53 83 54 82 / 20 20 30 30 HLN 58 87 59 86 / 20 30 40 40 BZN 55 85 56 83 / 20 40 40 50 WEY 50 73 48 70 / 10 50 50 60 DLN 55 80 54 80 / 20 40 40 50 HVR 58 88 61 86 / 30 10 30 30 LWT 57 85 59 80 / 20 20 40 40 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && weather.gov/greatfalls www.twitter.com/NWSGreatFalls www.facebook.com/NWSGreatFalls
The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:10 UTC.
4 heavy rain, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
High wind gusts, measuring 57KT (66 MPH), reported 8 mi SSW of Fort Benton, MT.
High wind gusts, measuring 56KT (64MPH), were reported.
Heavy rain, measuring 1.20 inches in 20 minutes, caused minor street flooding. One half inch hail was also reported with storm.
Heavy rain, measuring 0.46 inches in 30 minutes, was reported.
Heavy rain, measuring 0.46 inches in 30 minutes, was reported near Havre, MT.
Heavy rain, measuring 0.97 inches in 10 minutes, was reported.
High wind gusts, estimated at 50KT (58MPH), blew a tree onto a vehicle. A camper was blown over, power lines were down, and a fence was also blown down.
Hail, measuring .88 inches (nickel sized), was reported.
Hail, measuring .88 inches (nickel sized), was reported.
Hail, measuring .88 inches (nickel sized), was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, August 2014
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: 536458, 536464, 536467, 536469, 536476, 536471, 536473, 536477, 536478, 536480.