Tight east-west pressure gradients across the area resulted in high wind gusts across the western portions of the Billings Forecast Area.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 BYZ wrote it up.
Tight east-west pressure gradients across the area resulted in high wind gusts across the western portions of the Billings Forecast Area.
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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 14, 8:45 PM MST, 2 hours 21 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Billings MT
845 PM MST Fri Dec 14 2018
.UPDATE...
Current forecast continues to look in good shape so no updates
are planned this evening. Gusty southwest winds will continue
through the night from Billings westward. The strongest winds will
be through the Livingston area along the Beartooth/Absaroka
Foothills to Nye. These winds, combined with some mid and high
level clouds, will help to keep overnight lows above freezing for
these areas. Areas east of Billings, where winds will be lighter,
will see lows dropping into the lower to middle 20s tonight.
Hooley
&&
.SHORT TERM...valid for Sat and Sun...
Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation look to
continue through the next week as the main storm track/jet stream
should be north of our area.
Gusty winds will continue in the Livingston area and along the
Beartooth/Absaroka foothills through Saturday. Winds should
strengthen a bit in these areas tonight and Saturday as the sea-
level pressure gradient increases in combination with favorable
winds aloft. Wind gusts in the 55 to 65 mph range are still
expected there tonight into Saturday...so have continued the Wind
Advisory.
A weak upper disturbance should move across the Northern Rockies
during the day on Saturday. Surface pressures will rise over
central MT behind the disturbance, helping the pressure gradient
to weaken...so winds should also weaken late in the afternoon.
The disturbance can also bring scattered snow showers to the
Beartooth/Absaroka Mountains late tonight into Saturday but dry
lower levels should keep the precipitation out of the plains.
Upper ridging will then dominate the weather for Sunday with dry
conditions across the region. Southwesterly flow over the ID/WY
border should help the sea-level pressure to stay low enough to
keep the SLP gradient across south central MT weak enough to keep
wind gusts in the 50-55 mph range in the Livingston-Nye corridor
in the morning. Winds should weaken a bit for the afternoon.
High temperatures will range from the middle 40s to lower 50s over
the lower elevations Saturday and Sunday. Low temperatures will be
in the 20s and 30s tonight through Sunday night. Temperatures
should be highest over south central MT and lower over southeast
MT. RMS
.LONG TERM...valid for Mon...Tue...Wed...Thu...Fri...
Only real impact weather in the extended is the wind. Zonal flow
will yield periods of enhanced pre-frontal gap winds followed by
mixed post-frontal winds across the lower elevations. At this
time, the strongest gap winds are likely to occur around Tuesday
night and into Wednesday.
Otherwise, mild and mostly dry weather will continue through the
extended period (i.e. next week) with above normal heights over
the northern Rockies. In fact, we will see highs in the 50s for
much of next week which is 15-20 degrees above average for this
time of year. There will be a couple of Pacific fronts which will
bring a bit of cooling but also increased mixing. Nighttime lows
will also be quite mild, especially along our foothills and over
ridges due to wind. Our mountains may see a few snow showers late
Monday and Monday night, then a better chance of snow Tuesday
night into Wednesday with a stronger shortwave. The latter wave
may even bring some light rain showers or sprinkles to lower
elevations, but the downslope flow will limit measurable
precipitation.
This extended period of warm/dry/windy weather will elevate
concerns for grass fires, especially with temps getting into the
50s. People are urged to use caution with any burning.
If you are looking for wintry weather, we do not see any obvious
break in this mild pattern. While the GFS hints at a quick shot
of precipitation and cooler air moving through next Friday night,
the ECMWF maintains high pressure and dry conditions. So we will
continue with just some low PoP's for now in that time frame. BT
&&
.AVIATION...
Strong SW-W winds will continue along the western foothills
through tomorrow, with gusts of 40-55 kts at KLVM. VFR conditions
with scattered to broken high clouds will prevail. A few snow
showers are possible over the western mountains by early Saturday
with some obscured mountain tops. BT
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 034/051 028/050 033/052 033/051 037/055 035/052 033/048
00/N 00/U 00/U 00/U 11/B 00/B 02/W
LVM 032/046 028/049 031/050 031/048 038/050 036/048 031/045
01/N 00/N 00/N 11/N 21/N 11/N 12/W
HDN 027/052 023/050 025/053 026/052 031/057 028/053 027/050
00/N 00/U 00/U 00/U 11/B 00/B 02/W
MLS 024/045 021/041 023/045 028/048 033/052 030/049 029/048
00/B 00/U 00/U 00/U 11/B 10/B 01/B
4BQ 025/046 022/044 025/047 026/049 030/052 030/050 030/049
00/B 00/U 00/U 00/U 11/B 00/U 02/W
BHK 026/047 023/044 025/045 028/048 033/049 030/046 029/045
00/B 00/U 00/U 00/U 11/N 00/B 01/N
SHR 026/051 022/050 026/052 025/049 029/052 028/051 027/048
00/B 00/U 00/U 00/U 01/B 00/U 02/W
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...Wind Advisory in effect until 5 PM MST Saturday FOR ZONES
65-66.
WY...None.
&&
weather.gov/billingsPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1031 PM MST FRI DEC 14 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 WSW LIVINGSTON 45.65N 110.60W
12/14/2018 M58.00 MPH PARK MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
&&
ARTHURThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind gust of 75 mph was recorded at the Stillwater Mine.
A wind gust of 76 mph was recorded at the west Livingston DOT site.
A wind gust of 58 mph was recorded at the Upper Musellshell Agrimet site.
Wind gusts of 59 mph were recorded across the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2018
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: 799071, 794098, 794100, 794101.