High winds over north 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 over north 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 Mar 13, 4:20 AM MST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 520 AM MDT Thu Mar 13 2014 Updated Aviation Discussion .DISCUSSION... Today through Saturday...A shortwave will move over the Rockies today and move into Eastern Montana this afternoon. Water vapor shows this to be a rather dry system and any chance of precip will be limited to the western mountains. Some breezy conditions currently over the Rockies and adjacent plains which should weaken during the morning. A slightly cooler air mass will move in behind with the cold front associated with the shortwave but the high pressure ridge will quickly rebuild and Friday will continue the trend of warm temperatures. However, another short wave will be moving over the West Coast Friday and winds aloft will strengthen ahead of this system. Strong and gusty surface winds will develop Friday afternoon and continue into Saturday. At this time, high lights are not expected to be needed although some higher locations will need to be watched...the Northern Rockies and the Whitlash/Sunburst area. This shortwave will also bring precipitation into the area late Friday afternoon and night. With warm temperatures, snow accumulations should not be significant. Higher locations may see total snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches. The shortwave will cool the air mass Friday night and Saturday. However, the ridge rebuilds quickly and should allow good heating and the current warm max temps for Saturday will be continued. Zelzer Saturday night through Thursday...An upper level ridge of high pressure shifts east across the region Saturday night through Sunday. Afternoon temperatures on Sunday will be about 10-15 degrees above climatological averages with some lower elevation locations likely to approach 60 degrees. Westerly winds aloft strengthen through the day on Sunday as the upper level ridge flattens Sunday afternoon through Sunday night in response to a strong pacific jet moving east along the US/Canadian border. This and the development of a lee-side surface trough which strengthens Sunday night will likely produce strong winds for western portions of north-central MT. Medium range models have come into better agreement on the arrival of a Pacific upper level trough in the Northern Rockies on Monday, but still differ with respect to precipitation amounts with ECMWF showing a stronger/wetter wave than the GFS. With higher confidence now in the timing, have increased pops for Monday and Monday night and cooled temps a bit further. Upper level ridging then builds in behind the trough during the Tuesday/Wednesday period before a larger trough may move into the west later next week. Models are still struggling with the timing and strength of these features for Tuesday and beyond, though a turn to generally more unsettled weather appears likely by late next week. Hoenisch && .AVIATION... UPDATED 1120Z. An upper level weather disturbance will move quickly SE across MT today. Main impacts from this feature will be breezy winds, shifting to the northwest over north-central MT terminals late this morning. Moisture is very limited with this system and little or no precipitation is expected, though a period of broken mid level clouds is likely late this morning into this afternoon, mainly across north central MT. VFR conditions will prevail at all all terminals with clearing skies and decreasing winds expected tonight. Hoenisch && .HYDROLOGY... Further flooding problems during the next few days are not expected. Snow levels should be relatively low and minimum temperatures should fall below freezing for a time each night. A weather system will move through the area Friday night but significant amounts of precipitation are not expected. Snowmelt could increase by Sunday as snow levels rise to between 6500 feet and 7500 feet. Increased precipitation could occur early next week but snow levels will fall. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 49 28 51 31 / 10 0 20 50 CTB 45 26 47 29 / 0 0 10 60 HLN 50 29 51 32 / 0 0 20 50 BZN 45 24 49 29 / 0 0 20 70 WEY 42 17 42 20 / 0 10 20 70 DLN 48 26 49 27 / 0 0 10 60 HVR 48 26 51 30 / 10 10 10 80 LWT 46 27 49 30 / 10 10 10 60 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WARNING for the Missouri River near Landusky until Thursday evening. FLOOD WARNING for the Milk River at Eastern Crossing near Rudyard until further notice. URBAN and SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY until 115 PM MDT Thursday for Jefferson County. URBAN and SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY until 200 PM MDT Thursday for Glacier and Pondera counties. URBAN and SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY until 930 PM MDT Thursday for Lewis and Clark County. && weather.gov/greatfalls www.twitter.com/NWSGreatFalls www.facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.GreatFalls.gov
7 high wind, 1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
High wind gusts, peaking at 55KT (63MPH), were reported 1 mi E of East Glacier Park, MT at the Two Medicine DOT sensor.
The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an unknown number of skiers that had been caught up in an avalanche north of Bridger Bowl.
Rescuers found one injured skier. The skier was a 32 year old male from Bozeman that had been skiing out of bounds north of Bridger Bowl in what is called the Barney Avalanche Slide Path. The skier caused the avalanche at the ridge breaking a large cornice free and landed approximately 450 yards down the hill. The skier was able to dig his way out of the snow. Rescuers moved the skier to the Bridger Bowl Ski Patrol building to provide further medical assistance. The skier was then transported to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital for his injuries.
High wind gusts, peaking at 53KT (61MPH), were reported 6 mi NE of Whitlash, MT at the State Flood sensor.
High wind gusts, peaking at 73KT (84MPH), were reported 1 mi E of East Glacier Park, MT at the Two Medicine DOT sensor.
High wind gusts, peaking at 68KT (78MPH), were reported 17 mi W of Pendroy, MT at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch sensor.
High sustained winds, peaking at 36KT (41MPH), were reported 13 mi E of Fairfield, MT. A gust to 53KT (61MPH) was also reported.
High wind gusts, peaking at 56KT (64MPH), were reported 3 mi SW of Cut Bank, MT at the Cut Bank Airport ASOS.
High sustained winds, peaking at 37KT (42MPH), were reported 2 mi SSE of Geyser, MT at the Geyser DOT sensor.
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, March 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: 502182, 502179, 502184, 502185, 502186, 502189, 502188, 502191.