Strong westerly winds aloft combined with a tight pressure gradient to produce high winds along the Rocky Mountain Front.
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 westerly winds aloft combined with a tight pressure gradient to produce high winds along the Rocky Mountain Front.
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 2, 10:38 PM MST, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 1038 PM MST Thu Mar 2 2017 ...Update to Aviation... .UPDATE... Little needed update this evening. Clouds continue to be found across much of central and eastern portions of the CWA as a result from a warm front pattern. There are weak returns on the radar associated with this feature. Added in slight chances for brief very light low impact snow as this feature moves east...however...no airport sites have recorded anything yet this evening...and the returns currently on radar are likely virga showers. Winds also look to increase tonight with a tightening pressure gradient. 50 knots at 700 mb look to push across during the overnight hours. Bumped up winds slightly...however...they still look to remain below high wind criteria. Friday still looks to be mainly dry (with only a few snow showers in the Rocky Mountain Front)...breezy...and warm. Some early 00z model guidance indicating the return of low 50s are possible for tomorrow. Really will depend on how breezy it gets and how much snow is left. Bumped up high temps slightly...but held off on 50s for now. Anglin && .AVIATION... UPDATED 0538Z. West-northwest flow aloft will prevail through the forecast period. Periods of breezy to windy west-southwest surface winds can be expected across portions of north central Montana with gusty southerly winds likely through favored southwest Montana valleys, including the KEKS terminal. Variable mid and high level clouds can be expected through the entire forecast period for widespread VFR conditions. Only exceptions will be mountain obscurations along the Continental Divide and some areas of early morning fog in the Milk River Valley. mpj && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 423 PM MST Thu Mar 2 2017/ Tonight through Saturday...Satellite imagery reveals a rather dense and elongated Chinook Arch reaching over much of the forecast area. Surface observations under the Arch suggest altostratus cloud bases around 5-9kft AGL, so the associated light radar reflectivity is most likely virga. Moisture associated with a minor shortwave feature crossing through, and flattening broad ridging over the PacNW will maintain this cloud cover through the overnight period. Scattered snow showers continue over the Northern Rockies, with possible isolated flurries further east across North-central MT. Southwest winds and weak warm advection associated with the passing shortwave will maintain overnight temperatures in the 20s and 30s for most areas, with teens in the southwest valleys. Winds will strengthen early Friday as the passing shortwave tightens the surface and mid-level pressure gradient. The strongest winds will be confined to the Rocky Mountain Front, though conditions do not appear favorable for widespread high winds. Precipitation ends for all but isolated mountain locations Friday night into Saturday. Moisture begins to increase again later Saturday on a southwest flow aloft as a broad longwave trough advances closer to the Pacific coast. PN Saturday Night through Monday...Period begins with southwesterly flow aloft over the CWA as a mid- to upper-level longwave trough comes ashore over BC and the Pac NW. A shortwave trough is still projected to eject northeastward from the longwave and cross the CWA either Sunday or early Monday. Regardless, a lee surface low should develop over MT on Sunday before moving eastward. This pattern still looks to support widespread precipitation, mainly in the form of snow, across our region Saturday night through perhaps Monday morning. However, it is too early to mention specific snow amounts. Later Monday, zonal flow aloft should begin developing over our area. Temperatures are expected to be slightly below normal during the period. Monday Night through Thursday...Zonal flow aloft should persist over North-Central and Southwest MT. With this pattern, periods of upslope snow are expected to continue along the Continental Divide and west aspects of our other mountains, especially those in Central and Southwest MT. Elsewhere, predominantly dry weather should occur due to downslope flow. Periods of gusty winds are not out of the question, particularly along the Rocky Mountain Front. A moderating trend should allow temperatures to be near or slightly above normal. Jaszka && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 33 46 35 49 / 10 0 0 10 CTB 29 42 29 41 / 10 10 0 10 HLN 28 47 29 45 / 10 0 0 30 BZN 28 44 28 44 / 10 10 0 30 WEY 18 34 21 34 / 10 10 10 60 DLN 24 44 29 43 / 0 0 0 30 HVR 30 43 31 46 / 20 10 0 0 LWT 31 44 30 47 / 20 10 0 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && weather.gov/greatfalls
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Great Falls MT 1055 PM MST Thu Mar 2 2017 MTZ009-048-031200- Northern Rocky Mountain Front-Southern Rocky Mountain Front- Including the cities of Browning, Heart Butte, Dupuyer, East Glacier Park, Kiowa, Bynum, Choteau, and Pendroy 1055 PM MST Thu Mar 2 2017 ...Areas of blowing snow possible tonight along the Rocky Mountain Front... Increasing winds...combined with fresh snow...could bring areas of blowing and drifting snow tonight...and possibly into Friday morning. Visibility less than a mile at times is possible across areas roads and highways...especially along US Highway 2 and US Highway 89. Those traveling should use extreme caution.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds were sustained above 40 mph at the Dellwo Mesonet site for over nine hours.
Peak wind gust measured at the Dellwo Mesonet site.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, March 2017
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: 683308, 683307.