A prolonged period of above normal temperatures for this time of year allowed stronger winds from above to mix down to the surface, enhancing the chinook wind effect from the west, especially near the lee side of the Little Rocky Mountains.
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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 GGW wrote it up.
A prolonged period of above normal temperatures for this time of year allowed stronger winds from above to mix down to the surface, enhancing the chinook wind effect from the west, especially near the lee side of the Little Rocky Mountains.
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 23, 9:23 PM MST, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 923 PM MST FRI JAN 23 2015 .SHORT TERM...FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY... SENT AN UPDATE TONIGHT TO BETTER REFLECT THE HIGHER LEVEL OF MODEL CONSENSUS FOR MIXED PRECIPITATION MOVING THROUGH FAR NORTHEAST MONTANA TONIGHT. INCREASE POPS TO CHANCE BASICALLY FROM OPHEIM TO SIDNEY AND POINTS NEARBY. ALSO INCREASED QPF...BUT STILL LOOKS LIKE ANY FREEZING RAIN WOULD ACCUMULATE LESS THAN 0.05 INCHES...BUT SHOULD KEEP A VERY CLOSE EYE ON CONDITIONS IF THEY TURN OUT A BIT MORE FREEZING RAIN THAN EXPECTED. TIME FRAME OF GREATEST CONCERN FOR THIS AREA IS 09Z THROUGH 15Z. BMICKELSON PREVIOUS SHORT TERM DISCUSSION...THE WESTERN CONUS REMAINS DOMINATED BY A PERSISTENT LONG WAVE RIDGE WHICH IS GENERATING RELATIVELY WARM CONDITIONS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...ALONG WITH LIMITED CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION. ON SATURDAY MORNING A SMALL SHORT WAVE EMBEDDED IN THE NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE RIDGE DOES PASS OVER THE AREA BRINGING A CHANCE FOR SOME LIGHT PRECIPITATION. SREF PRECIP. TYPE AND BUFKIT SOUNDINGS SHOW SOME CHANCE FOR FREEZING PRECIPITATION WITH THE EVENT DUE TO WARM 850MB WESTERLY FLOW CREATING A MELTING LAYER ABOVE THE SURFACE. WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 40S ON SATURDAY...THE WINDOW FOR FREEING PRECIP WILL BE LIMITED TO AREAS BELOW FREEZING EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. PRECIP AMOUNTS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE MORE THAN 5 HUNDREDTHS. AS SHORT WAVE PROGRESSES EASTWARD...PRECIP. SHOULD LARGELY END AFTER 18Z WITH SUNDAY BEING DRIER...THOUGH GFS AND EC BOTH HAVE A TRACE OF PRECIP SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THE LATEST GFS IS MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH THIS SHORT WAVE THAN PREVIOUS RUNS...AND IS IN CLOSER AGREEMENT WITH THE EC. TODAY'S HIGH TEMPERATURES HAVE GONE ABOVE THE FORECAST. THIS IS MOST LIKELY DUE TO THE RAPID REDUCTION OF SNOW COVER THAT CAN BE DIFFICULT FOR MODELS TO KEEP UP WITH. MARTIN. .LONG TERM...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY... LONG WAVE PATTERN CONTINUES TO HAVE A BLOCKY RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN CONUS. LATEST MODEL ENSEMBLES ARE FAIRLY UNANIMOUS IN FLATTENING THIS RIDGE SOME ON TUESDAY WITH A COLD FROPA ON WEDNESDAY. THIS WILL BRING THE WED THROUGH FRIDAY TEMPERATURES DOWN TO ONLY 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL FROM THE CURRENT 20 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THE PARTIAL DISRUPTION OF THE RIDGE WILL INCREASE POPS FOR THE WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY PERIODS...HOWEVER...THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO LARGE STRONGLY FORCED SYSTEM ANTICIPATED. THERE IS SOME HINT IN MODEL CONSISTENCY THAT ANOTHER COLD FRONT A WEEK FROM SATURDAY COULD BRING SOME SNOW AND TEMPERATURES BACK DOWN CLOSER TO NORMAL. SOME RESPECT FOR CLIMATOLOGY SUPPORTS THIS IDEA OF THE WARM PERIOD LASTING ABOUT ANOTHER WEEK. MARTIN PREVIOUS LONG-TERM DISCUSSION... SYNOPTIC SET UP...COLDEST AIR OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE EXTENDS OVER BAFFIN ISLAND TOWARD QUEBEC WITH A SECOND LOBE OF ARCTIC AIR OVER THE NORTH SLOPE OF ALASKA. THESE COLD AIR-MASSES HAVE INFLUENCE DOWN INTO NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN AND SOUTHERN MANITOBA....BUT DO NOT QUITE LEAK INTO MONTANA. TO THE WEST A LARGE WARM RIDGE RUNS UP THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA AND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST INTO SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA. THIS BROAD RIDGING IS SPILLING OVER THE FRONT RANGE OF ALBERTA AND MONTANA GENERATING LIGHT DOWNSLOPE WINDS. SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...RIDGE OVER THE WEST COAST WILL PROVIDE FOR A MAJOR INFLUENCE OVER THE HIGH PLAINS ON MONTANA. CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION SHOULD BE MINOR. MID TO HIGH LEVEL ARCH CLOUDS MAY BE POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIME BUT HIGHS COULD ALSO REACH INTO THE 40S AND MAYBE EVEN 50S. THIS IS UNUSUALLY WARM FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR AND 50S TERRITORY FOR MANY AREAS MEANS NEW RECORDS. THIS IN ITSELF SHOULD MAKE THESE PERIODS SUSPECT IN CONFIDENCE... BUT MULTI MODEL ENSEMBLES ARE NOT DIFFERING MUCH IN THEIR 500 MB HEIGHTS WHICH USUALLY LEADS TO A VERY HIGH CONFIDENCE EVENT. WHILE IT WILL BE A BEAUTIFUL DAY.... IT WILL ALSO BE UNNATURALLY WARM FOR THE TIME OF YEAR WITH SOME RECORDS NOT ONLY BE BROKEN AND TIED BUT POTENTIALLY SHATTERED BY SEVERAL DEGREES IF THE FORECAST COARSE CONTINUES. WEDNESDAY NIGHT ONWARD...MODELS HINT AT SHORTWAVE ENERGY AND COLD AIR DROPPING DOWN FROM THE ALASKAN NORTH SLOPE AND PARTIALLY FLATTENING OR MOVING THE SYNOPTIC RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE US. THIS MAY ALLOW A COLD FRONT AND PRECIP AROUND TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. A PACIFIC TROUGH OF COOL AIR OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA COULD ALSO HELP TO BREAK THIS RIDGE DOWN. WITH THE MAIN RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN US DOWN FOR THE COUNT THE ARCTIC AIR MASS... WHICH RE-SITUATES ITSELF OVER THE HUDSON BAY... WILL HAVE MUCH MORE INFLUENCE IN DRIVING DOWN TEMPERATURES TO NEAR SEASONAL NORMS LATE IN THE WEEK. THIS SHOULD ALSO RETURN CHANCE FOR PRECIP BACK TO NEAR NORMAL. GAH && .AVIATION... VFR. CLOUDS WILL CONTINUE TO THICKEN AND LOWER THROUGH THE NIGHT. A FAST MOVING SYSTEM MAY DROP A BRIEF PERIOD OF RAIN OR FREEZING RAIN LATE TONIGHT OR SATURDAY MORNING. WINDS WILL INCREASE IN IT/S WAKE AND MAY LEAD TO SOME LLWS. TFJ && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/GLASGOW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 234 PM MST FRI JAN 23 2015 MTZ017>020-023>027-061-062-241245- CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY-DANIELS-SHERIDAN-WESTERN ROOSEVELT- MCCONE-RICHLAND-DAWSON-PRAIRIE-WIBAUX-NORTHERN VALLEY- EASTERN ROOSEVELT- 234 PM MST FRI JAN 23 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST MONTANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SOME LIGHT FREEZING RAIN OR DRIZZLE IS POSSIBLE SATURDAY MORNING OVER PARTS OF EXTREME NORTHEAST MONTANA. THREAT IS LIMITED TO THE EARLY MORNING AS PRECIPITATION ENDS BY NOON AND SURFACE TEMPERATURES WARM ABOVE FREEZING BY 10AM. TOTAL PRECIPIATION FOR THE PERIOD OF 6AM TO NOON ON SATURDAY IS EXPECTED TO BE LESS THAN .05 INCHES AS A COMBINATION OF LIGHT RAIN AND FREEZING DRIZZLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Malta South US-191 DOT site measured sustained winds of 40 mph or greater from 1:34 to 6:30 am on the 8th, with a first verifying gust of 58 mph at 2:24 am and a peak wind gust of 61 mph at 5:45 am.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, January 2015
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: 557270.