An unstable airmass, combined with strong winds aloft, contributed to the development of isolated thunderstorms during the late afternoon and early evening hours of the 4th. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph were reported.
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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 TFX wrote it up.
An unstable airmass, combined with strong winds aloft, contributed to the development of isolated thunderstorms during the late afternoon and early evening hours of the 4th. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph were reported.
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 Apr 4, 2:20 PM MST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 320 PM MDT MON APR 4 2016 UPDATE AVIATION... .DISCUSSION... TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...A FAST-MOVING UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE WILL CROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA THIS EVENING. THE AIRMASS IS SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AS THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE FRONT WILL BE EAST OF THE ZONES BY LATE EVENING BUT THE SURFACE GRADIENT WILL BE VERY TIGHT BEHIND THE FRONT AND STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY. WINDS WILL STRENGTHEN THROUGH THE NIGHT AND BECOME STRONG TOWARDS MORNING. THE HIGH WIND WATCH FOR THE NORTHEASTERN PORTION OF THE CWA HAS BEEN CHANGED TO A HIGH WIND WARNING. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ALOFT MONDAY NIGHT BUT THE BREEZY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE AIRMASS WILL TREND WARMER AND TEMPS WILL RISE TO NEAR NORMALS TUESDAY AND ABOVE NORMALS AGAIN BY WEDNESDAY. ZELZER WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THAT THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT PERIOD WILL BE DOMINATED BY A BUILDING UPPER LEVEL RIDGE. THIS PATTEN WILL BRING MOSTLY CLEAR, DRY AND VERY WARM CONDITIONS TO THE STATE. THERE ALSO CONTINUES TO BE LOW TO MODERATE CONFIDENCE IN THE CONDITIONS FOR SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY AS MEDIUM RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS. IT IS WORTH NOTING, HOWEVER, THAT THESE SOLUTIONS DO NOT DIVERGE AS MUCH TONIGHT AS THEY WERE SHOWING A FEW DAYS AGO. IT CONTINUES TO SEEM REASONABLE TO TREND THE FORECAST BACK TOWARD SEASONAL TEMPERATURES AND CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION. AT THIS TIME THE ECMWF REMAINS A BIT FASTER AND A BIT COLDER THAN THE GFS AS IT BRINGS A SHARPER AND COLDER UPPER LEVEL TROUGH ACROSS THE REGION. MPJ && .AVIATION...UPDATED 2320Z. A COLD FRONT WILL BRING STRONG WINDS AND A CHANCE OF SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO EXIT THE AREA AROUND 00Z. A SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL ALLOW FOR A FEW THUNDERSTORMS EARLYTHIS EVENING. STRONG WINDS 15-25KTS WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 50 KTS WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY. LOCAL MVFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE NEAR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. ALSO MOUNTAIN OBSCURATION TONIGHT THROUGH MORNING MORNING AND LOCAL MVFR/IFR POSSIBLE FROM SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING...ESPECIALLY KLWT. DB && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 37 51 36 65 / 50 40 10 10 CTB 36 52 37 63 / 40 30 10 10 HLN 35 52 33 65 / 40 20 10 10 BZN 31 50 30 65 / 60 30 10 10 WEY 24 40 23 50 / 70 20 10 10 DLN 29 49 29 61 / 30 10 10 10 HVR 37 54 34 69 / 70 70 10 10 LWT 33 48 32 65 / 70 60 10 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 3 AM TO 6 PM MDT TUESDAY FOR MTZ011-013- 045-047-050-051. && WEATHER.GOV/GREATFALLS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
332 PM MDT MON APR 04 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0308 PM HAIL WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS 46.55N 110.90W
04/04/2016 M0.25 INCH MEAGHER MT TRAINED SPOTTER
PEA-SIZE HAIL WITH HEAVY RAIN AT THE TIME.
&&
DBThe Missoula radar (KMSX), 211 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:38 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm produced a gust to 62 mph at Glen 7SE. Also a thunderstorm gust to 64 mph was reported at Dillon 5NE.
A thunderstorm gust to 71 mph was reported at Townsend 8W (the Elkhorn RAWS site).
A thunderstorm gust to 65 mph was reported at Bozeman 3SSE.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2016
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: 618209, 618210, 618211.