Montana, 2019

High Wind in Montana, November 23 to 24, 2019

November 23 to 24, 2019 · NWS BYZ · 8 events in 7 counties and zones

Tight surface pressure gradients combined with a strong jet stream resulted in high wind gusts across most of the Billings Forecast Area.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
8

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 BYZ wrote it up.

Tight surface pressure gradients combined with a strong jet stream resulted in high wind gusts across most of the Billings Forecast Area.

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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 23, 3:35 AM MST, 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 23, 3:35 AM MST, 25 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Nov 23, 2:49 AM MST, 1 hour 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
249 AM MST SAT NOV 23 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0140 AM     NON-TSTM WND GST 2 SSW BIG TIMBER        45.81N 109.98W
11/23/2019  M56.00 MPH       SWEET GRASS        MT   AWOS

&&

TWH

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Northern Sweet Grass

When
November 23, 4:00 AM MST to November 24, 3:10 PM MST
Where
Northern Sweet Grass forecast zone
Measured
57 kt (66 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Department of Highways
Coordinates
45.814, -109.941 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 66 mph across the Big Timber area.

High Wind, Southern Wheatland

When
November 23, 12:45 PM MST
Where
Southern Wheatland forecast zone
Measured
51 kt (59 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Department of Highways
Coordinates
46.466, -109.844 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 59 mph across the area.

High Wind, Southern Wheatland

When
November 24, 4:15 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
Where
Southern Wheatland forecast zone
Measured
52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by
AWOS
Coordinates
46.466, -109.844 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.

High Wind, Melville Foothills

When
November 24, 7:30 AM MST to 10:30 AM MST
Where
Melville Foothills forecast zone
Measured
57 kt (66 mph) measured gust
Reported by
AWOS
Coordinates
46.140, -109.892 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 66 mph just east of Melville.

High Wind, Judith Gap

When
November 24, 7:34 AM MST to 12:19 PM MST
Where
Judith Gap forecast zone
Measured
53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Department of Highways
Coordinates
46.424, -109.509 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 61 mph across the Judith Gap area.

High Wind, Northern Rosebud

When
November 24, 1:44 PM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where
Northern Rosebud forecast zone
Measured
52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Department of Highways
Coordinates
46.230, -106.731 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted 58 to 60 mph at the Hillside and Sweeney Creek DOT sites.

High Wind, Northern Stillwater

When
November 24, 2:15 PM MST to 4:20 PM MST
Where
Northern Stillwater forecast zone
Measured
54 kt (62 mph) measured gust
Reported by
AWOS
Coordinates
45.669, -109.395 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 62 mph across the area.

High Wind, Fallon

When
November 24, 3:45 PM MST
Where
Fallon forecast zone
Measured
52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by
ASOS
Coordinates
46.334, -104.417 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winds gusted to 60 mph at the Baker Airport.

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 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, November 2019

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 863425, 863426, 863422, 863423, 863424, 863429, 863427, 863428.