A tight west/east surface pressure gradient across south central Montana resulted in some high wind gusts across the western portions of the Billings Forecast Area.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
A tight west/east surface pressure gradient across south central Montana resulted in some 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 1, 2:18 AM MST, 27 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
218 AM MST Wed Dec 1 2021
.DISCUSSION...
Today through Thursday...
Wind event well underway with most western foothills locations
already gusting over 60mph. Event looks to gain momentum today
with mid level winds increasing and surface pressure gradients
tightening over the western foothills. The question will be how
far east to take High Wind Warnings. Elevated plateaus of
Stillwater county have already hit high Warning criteria and
believe this should continue through the day. 850mb wind were
progged at 50kts through the day north and west of Billings. Low
level inversions were pretty steep and strong, so mixing should be
very limited today. This may indeed be an elevation driven event
with some high ridges, exposed hills and plateaus being able to
hit Warning criteria over Stillwater, Golden Valley and
Musselshell counties. Have decided to extend the Warning to these
locations. Billings will be close but decided to keep the Warning
out of Yellowstone county for now. Inversion just looks to strong
to tap in the stronger winds aloft. Locations northwest of
Billings may be able too, however, based on terrain.
Winds should stay strong overnight over the western foothills but
should decrease some overnight tonight farther east (the newly
Warned area of Stillwater, Golden Valley and Musselshell
counties). Will end the warning there at 11pm but keep the other
highlights in place through Thursday morning. Thursday will be
mush less windy everywhere, but still remain "breezy" in most
locations.
Otherwise, record high temperatures certainly in jeopardy today
and Thursday with highs projected in the mid 60s. Today looks to
the be the warmest of the two days, as the warming gets shut off
in the afternoon on Thursday, with a cold frontal passage. The
highs on Thursday will be early in the day.
Fire weather concerns have been mitigated for this event with the
rainfall Monday night. That being said, everyone should still be
mindfull to not cause a spark. TWH
Thursday night through Tuesday...
A dry cold front will move through southeastern Montana Thursday
night bringing colder temperatures for Friday. Those
temperatures, while much colder, will finally cool back towards
normal. Saturday's temperatures will warm back above normal but
this will be short lived as they will cool again on Sunday. This
is where the forecast starts to vary. Ensembles are showing very
different solutions ranging from temperatures in the 20s and 30s
or they could be in the 40s for Monday onward. For now, the
forecast splits the difference so keep an eye on the forecast as
details become clearer. Winds will also increase in the foothills
on Saturday as the temperatures warm up. With the cooler
temperatures, there is also a chance of rain and/or snow in the
Monday/Tuesday timeframe.
High temperatures Friday will be in the 40s to low 50s, warming
into the upper 40s to low 60s on Saturday. Temperatures Sunday
and Monday will be in the 30s and 40s, cooling into to all 30s on
Tuesday. Plouffe
&&
.AVIATION...
VFR will prevail through the period. Strong west to southwest
winds will continue along the western foothills today and tonight.
Wind gusts in excess of 50-60 kts are expected from KLVM to K6S0
and K3HT. Locations just north and west of KBIL will have gusts
to 40-50kts, with 25-40 kts over the rest of the area today. Winds
will decrease over the plains tonight but remain strong over the
western foothills into Thursday morning. TWH
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tdy Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 065 047/066 032/044 030/055 029/041 024/040 021/037
0/N 00/N 11/E 11/B 21/B 13/O 53/S
LVM 063 046/061 035/051 035/055 032/043 025/040 020/037
0/N 00/N 00/E 11/N 20/N 14/O 53/S
HDN 066 045/069 030/047 027/055 025/040 023/042 019/037
0/N 00/B 20/E 11/E 20/B 12/O 53/S
MLS 069 045/066 028/039 026/046 023/034 019/036 017/031
0/N 01/N 00/B 11/E 10/B 02/S 42/S
4BQ 069 045/068 032/044 030/053 026/036 021/039 021/035
0/N 00/B 00/E 00/B 10/B 01/E 42/S
BHK 067 041/064 026/038 024/045 021/031 014/034 015/030
0/N 00/B 00/B 11/E 10/B 01/E 31/B
SHR 070 043/071 033/050 030/059 026/040 020/042 020/036
0/U 00/B 11/B 00/B 11/B 01/E 53/S
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...High Wind Warning in effect until 11 PM MST this evening FOR
ZONES 29-34-42.
High Wind Warning in effect until 11 AM MST Thursday FOR
ZONES 63-141-172-228.
Wind Advisory in effect until 11 AM MST Thursday FOR ZONES
65-66.
WY...None.
&&
weather.gov/billingsPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1224 AM MST WED DEC 01 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1129 PM NON-TSTM WND GST JUDITH GAP 46.69N 109.75W
11/30/2021 M61.00 MPH WHEATLAND MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
&&
PLOUFFEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1240 AM MST WED DEC 01 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1204 AM NON-TSTM WND GST JUDITH GAP 46.69N 109.75W
12/01/2021 M58.00 MPH WHEATLAND MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
&&
PLOUFFEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1252 AM MST WED DEC 01 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1204 AM NON-TSTM WND GST JUDITH GAP 46.69N 109.75W
12/01/2021 M58.00 MPH WHEATLAND MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
1212 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 17 NE WILSALL 46.16N 110.38W
12/01/2021 M55.00 MPH PARK MT MESONET
1214 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 WSW NYE 45.41N 109.87W
12/01/2021 M52.00 MPH STILLWATER MT MESONET
&&
TWHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
110 AM MST WED DEC 01 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1200 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 4 W HARLOWTON 46.45N 109.94W
12/01/2021 M58.00 MPH WHEATLAND MT UNKNOWN
1215 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 9 SE BIG TIMBER 45.74N 109.83W
12/01/2021 M52.00 MPH SWEET GRASS MT MESONET
1218 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 17 S FORT SMITH 45.07N 107.89W
12/01/2021 M58.00 MPH BIG HORN MT MESONET
1224 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 WSW NYE 45.41N 109.87W
12/01/2021 M55.00 MPH STILLWATER MT MESONET
1253 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 6 ENE LIVINGSTON 45.70N 110.45W
12/01/2021 M52.00 MPH PARK MT ASOS
&&
PLOUFFEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
158 AM MST WED DEC 01 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1230 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 9 NE REED POINT 45.80N 109.43W
12/01/2021 M66.00 MPH STILLWATER MT MESONET
1230 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 8 WSW MOLT 45.82N 109.09W
12/01/2021 M62.00 MPH STILLWATER MT MESONET
0100 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 6 S BIG TIMBER 45.75N 109.95W
12/01/2021 M55.00 MPH SWEET GRASS MT MESONET
&&
PLOUFFEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
238 AM MST WED DEC 01 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0115 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 N RAPLEJE 46.04N 109.24W
12/01/2021 M56.00 MPH STILLWATER MT MESONET
0131 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 6 ENE LIVINGSTON 45.70N 110.45W
12/01/2021 M60.00 MPH PARK MT ASOS
0135 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 13 SSW GREYCLIFF 45.58N 109.85W
12/01/2021 M55.00 MPH SWEET GRASS MT MESONET
0150 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 W REED POINT 45.71N 109.58W
12/01/2021 M53.00 MPH SWEET GRASS MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
0203 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 ENE LIVINGSTON 45.69N 110.50W
12/01/2021 M53.00 MPH PARK MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
&&
PLOUFFEThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds gusted up to 67 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 59 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 62 mph across the area.
Winds gusted 75-85 mph at the Livingston Airport. Some power outages occurred across the area.
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: 988862, 988861, 988863, 988860.