Montana, 2017

High Wind in Montana, October 16, 2017

October 16, 2017 · NWS GGW · 1 event in 1 county or zone

With a tight pressure gradient and severe winds aloft, a small disturbance over the region was able to pull those stronger winds all the way down to the surface in southwest Phillips County.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS GGW wrote it up.

With a tight pressure gradient and severe winds aloft, a small disturbance over the region was able to pull those stronger winds all the way down to the surface in southwest Phillips County.

What forecasters said that day

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 Oct 16, 4:45 AM MST, 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 16, 4:45 AM MST, 41 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 16, 2:20 AM MST, 3 hours 6 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 16, 4:40 AM MST, 46 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Little Rocky Mountains

When
October 16, 5:26 AM MST
Where
Little Rocky Mountains forecast zone
Measured
50 kt (58 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Department of Highways
Coordinates
48.259, -107.913 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 58 mph wind gust was measured at the Malta South DOT site, located on US 191 at milepost 122.

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, October 2017

Sources

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 722972.