A cooler and wetter than average December led to some improvement to drought conditions. However extreme drought conditions persist across the region.
Every event with a place to put it; 16 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 GGW wrote it up.
A cooler and wetter than average December led to some improvement to drought conditions. However extreme drought conditions persist across the region.
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 Nov 30, 2:20 PM MST, 9 hours 40 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 220 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 .DISCUSSION... A warm front will continue pushing across the region for this afternoon. While expected wind speeds did not materialize for much of NE Montana today, do expect a couple of hours of breezy conditions still possible for this afternoon. Ensemble guidance still shows a strong jet tracking over the Northern High Plains tonight into Wednesday. Forecast 850mb winds exceed 50 kts at times over the Little Rockies during that time. Have upgraded the High Wind Watch over to a High Wind Warning. There is some level of support for stronger winds over the remainder of Phillips County, a trend that next shift or two can keep an eye on. For now, confidence just isn't there for how much mixing will take place over the lower elevations to justify headlines at this time. Wednesday will also feature record high temperatures with highs in the 60s to low 70s ahead of the next approaching cold front. Temperatures will swing downward for the end of the week as a second cold front pushes through the area late Thursday. Ensemble spread continues to lend to notable uncertainty surrounding chances for snow over the upcoming weekend, something that will continue being monitored. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions are expected into tonight. Low level wind shear may be a problem at times tonight into Wednesday for area terminals with strong winds just above the surface. && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from 11 PM this evening to 5 PM MST Wednesday for Southwest Phillips. && weather.gov/glasgow
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
1040 PM MST TUE NOV 30 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1032 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 ESE ZORTMAN 47.91N 108.50W
11/30/2021 M61 MPH PHILLIPS MT MESONET
MESONET STATION ALDM8 ZORTMAN 1E.
&&
BCBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
16 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in Sheridan County were at (D3-Extreme) for the whole county. These conditions remained the same through the rest of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in all of Daniels County were at (D3-Extreme). These conditions remained the same through the rest of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in Eastern Roosevelt County were at (D3-Extreme) in the northern two thirds of the county as well as the southeastern corner while the southwestern third of the county was at (D4-Exceptional) conditions. During the second week of December the southwestern third of Eastern Roosevelt County improved to (D3-Extreme) conditions, making the whole area of Eastern Roosevelt County (D3-Extreme) conditions. These conditions would remain the same through the end of December.
At the start of December the southern corner of Richland County was in (D2-Severe) conditions, while the northwestern third of the county was in (D4-Exceptional) drought and the central third of the county was in (D3-Extreme) conditions. During the second week of December the northwestern third of the county improved to (D3-Extreme) conditions. This would bring all but the southern corner of Richland County into (D3-Extreme) conditions, while the southern corner remained at (D2-Severe) conditions. These conditions remained the same through the end of December.
To start December, the northwest corner of Dawson County was in (D4-Exceptional) conditions. The north central portion of the county, along with the far southern part bordering southern Wibaux County and eastern Prairie County were in (D3-Extreme) conditions. The rest of the southern half of Dawson County was in (D2-Severe) drought. By the second week of December the northwestern corner had improved to (D3-Extreme) drought conditions. By the third week of December the far southern part of Dawson County bordering southern Wibaux and eastern Prairie County had improved to (D2-Severe) drought conditions. Overall on the third week this would make the northwestern third of Dawson County in (D3-Extreme) conditions and the southeastern two thirds of Dawson County in (D2-Severe) conditions. These conditions remained the same through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in the northern third of Wibaux County was at (D2-Severe) conditions, while the southern two thirds of the county were in (D3-Extreme) conditions. By the third week of December all of Wibaux County had improved to (D2-Severe) conditions and these conditions would remain the same through the end of December.
To start the month of December, ongoing drought conditions in the eastern quarter and along the northern border of Prairie County were in (D3-Extreme) conditions, while the rest of the county was at (D2-Severe) drought conditions. By the third week of December the eastern quarter of Prairie County had improved to (D2-Severe) conditions. This places all but the northern border of Prairie County in (D2-Severe) conditions, while the northern border remained in (D3-Extreme) conditions. This would last through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in the northern two thirds of Western Roosevelt County were at (D3-Extreme) conditions while the southern third of Western Roosevelt County was in (D4-Exceptional) drought. On the second week of December the southeast corner of Western Roosevelt County improved to (D3-Severe) conditions. On the third week the southwestern corner of Western Roosevelt County improved to (D3-Severe) conditions. This placed all of Western Roosevelt County in (D3-Severe) drought conditions. This would continue through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in the southern third of McCone County was at (D3-Extreme) conditions while the northern two thirds of the county were in (D4-Exceptional) drought. By the second week of December, the northeastern portion of McCone County had improved to (D3-Extreme) conditions. By the third week of December the northwestern portion of McCone County had improved to (D3-Extreme) conditions. This would place all of McCone County in (D3-Extreme) conditions and it remained this way through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in all of Northern Valley County were at (D3-Extreme) drought conditions. These conditions remained the same for the rest of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in the northeast corner of Central and Southern Valley County were at (D3-Extreme) conditions, while the remaining area of Central and Southern Valley County remained in (D4-Exceptional) drought. By the third week all of Central and Southern Valley County improved to (D3-Extreme) drought conditions. This remained the same through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions in northern Garfield County around Fort Peck Lake were at (D4-Exceptional) conditions while most of the southeastern two thirds of Garfield County were in (D3-Extreme) drought. The exception was the far southeastern corner of Garfield county was in (D2-Severe) drought. By the third week of December most of the area around Fort Peck Lake had improved to (D3-Extreme) conditions. The western border with Petroleum County remained in (D4-Exceptional) conditions. So from the third week through the end of December, the far western border of Garfield County was in (D4-Exceptional) conditions, the far southeastern corner was in (D2-Severe) conditions, and the remainder of Garfield County in between was in (D3-Extreme) conditions.
To start the month of December, ongoing drought conditions were at (D3-Extreme) for all of Northern Phillips County. These conditions remained the same through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions were at (D4-Exceptional) conditions in all but the northwestern corner of Central and Southeast Phillips County, which was in (D3-Extreme) conditions. By the third week, all but the southwestern corner of Central and Southeast Phillips County improved to (D3-Severe) conditions, while the southwestern corner remained in (D4-Exceptional) conditions. These conditions remained the same through the end of December.
To start December, ongoing drought conditions were at (D4-Exceptional) for the northern three quarters of Petroleum County, while the southern quarter of Petroleum County remained in (D3-Extreme) conditions. On the third week of December a small portion of southeast Petroleum County improved to (D3-Extreme) conditions. This would still leave the northern three quarters of Petroleum County in (D4-Exceptional) conditions, while a slightly larger portion of the southern quarter of Petroleum County was in (D3-Extreme) conditions. These conditions would remain unchanged through the end of December.
To start December, all of the Little Rocky Mountains were in (D4-Exceptional) drought conditions. These conditions remained the same through the end of December.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, December 2021
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: 993119, 993137, 993140, 993143, 993146, 993148, 993161, 993197, 993205, 993211, 993213, 993215, 993221, 993222, 993224, 993226.