A cold, arctic air mass pushed the jet stream southward over the region and directed strong and gusty west winds across portions of central and northeast Montana. Some of the strongest winds from aloft were able to reach the surface, especially in southwest Phillips County.
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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 cold, arctic air mass pushed the jet stream southward over the region and directed strong and gusty west winds across portions of central and northeast Montana. Some of the strongest winds from aloft were able to reach the surface, especially in southwest Phillips County.
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 30, 4:24 AM MST, 2 hours 47 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds at the Montana DOT site 35 miles south of Malta gusted to 58 miles per hour or greater between 7:11 AM MST and 7:30 AM MST on the morning of the 30th. The peak gust was 61 miles per hour at 7:11 AM MST.
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, January 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: 733990.