A strong upper level jet streak moved over North-Central Montana, bringing powerful winds to the area, especially along the Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts along the Rocky Mountain Front exceeded 100 mph in some locations, particularly at Deep Creek and at the Two Medicine Bridge along US 2.
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 TFX wrote it up.
A strong upper level jet streak moved over North-Central Montana, bringing powerful winds to the area, especially along the Rocky Mountain Front. Wind gusts along the Rocky Mountain Front exceeded 100 mph in some locations, particularly at Deep Creek and at the Two Medicine Bridge along US 2. Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph spread across the plains, with most of North-Central Montana seeing High Wind Criteria. Of note, several fires occurred during this wind event. More information on these fires are under the episode titled Wind-fueled fires sweep across the plains.
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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 1, 2:05 AM MST, 25 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 205 AM MST Wed Dec 1 2021 .SYNOPSIS... Periods of strong winds will continue along the Rocky Mountain Front and adjacent plains tonight, expanding out into much of the North- Central Plains through this evening. Record high temperatures expected today, with most areas warming into the 60s and possibly the 70s. && .DISCUSSION... Today through Friday...Strong and gusty winds continue to push across the Central and North-Central Plains tonight through this evening. Morning gusts are expected to be isolated in Blaine, Hill, Chouteau, and Liberty counties, thus have elected to upgrade the High Wind Watch to a Warning through 4z Thursday. Chouteau and Hill counties have already hit high warning criteria between 5 and 6z tonight. All other highlights have been left as is; however, may need to extend the highlight for Rocky Mountain Front and Glacier County, as confidence wasn't high enough to adjust at this time. Primary impacts are to travel, which may be difficult at times, especially to high profile vehicles. Additionally, areas immediately adjacent to the Rocky Mountain Front may also experience blowing dust through the next 12 or so hours, resulting in periods of reduced visibility. Wind gusts are expected to decrease after Thursday morning through the early portion of the weekend. Furthermore, Today's high temperatures are still on trend to potentially create new record highs, as old records will likely be shattered by 5-10 degrees. For further details, please find the Climate section below. Saturday through next Wednesday...Winds are expected to decrease drastically from previous days. High temperatures will begin to return closer to seasonal averages. There is higher confidence that the snow probability for this weekend to be diminished as latest models have come in warmer and drier than previous runs. However, model guidance shows a shortwave passing through the region early next week, which betters the chance of precipitation Monday. Current model guidance also suggests Monday's precipitation may bring light snow into the region, but given the event being several says out, confidence is low at this time. - Pierce && .AVIATION... 1015 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 (01/06Z TAF period) Strong west to southwest winds continue to prevail across the region and will gradually increase throughout tonight into the morning. Surface winds at KCTB may exceed operational limits, where gusts in excess of 75kts can be expected. Many terminals, including KGTF, KCTB, KHVR, and KLWT may experience blowing dust as a result of these winds. Additionally, widespread low-level wind shear is possible, primarily near KBZN and KLWT. Strong to severe mountain wave turbulence should be expected through this TAF period. Precipitation will be limited to areas of higher elevation, combined with low- to mid-level cloudiness along the Rocky Mountain Front will likely cause mountain obscuration. - Pierce KWYS TAF will not be issued until airport operations resume next spring. Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .FIRE WEATHER... Elevated fire weather conditions will exist through tonight due to strong southwest to west downsloping winds, which will lead to low afternoon relative humidity values in the 25-35% range and poor moisture recovery during the overnight hours. && .CLIMATE... Record high temperatures are expected today across much of the region. Some record high temperatures could break the previous record high temperatures by nearly 10 degrees. Additionally, some locations could even approach the all time record high temperatures for December. For instance, Great Falls all time record high for December is 69 degrees, set on December 5, 1939. The all time high for Helena for December is 64 degrees, set on December 4, 1918 and December 27, 1980. Brusda && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 66 50 59 27 / 10 0 0 0 CTB 62 43 52 22 / 10 0 10 10 HLN 67 47 60 33 / 10 0 0 0 BZN 64 40 58 32 / 0 0 0 0 WYS 41 27 43 25 / 20 10 0 0 DLN 58 36 55 31 / 0 0 0 0 HVR 67 40 56 24 / 10 0 0 10 LWT 66 46 59 26 / 10 0 0 10 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 6 AM MST Thursday Eastern Glacier... Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. High Wind Warning until 9 PM MST this evening Blaine...Cascade... Chouteau...Fergus...Hill...Judith Basin...Liberty...Toole. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
123 AM MST WED DEC 1 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1216 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 14 NNW JOPLIN 48.74N 110.93W
12/01/2021 M57 MPH LIBERTY MT MESONET
57 MPH WIND GUST. MESONET SITE DW4821.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
130 AM MST WED DEC 1 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1031 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 20 N RUDYARD 48.85N 110.60W
11/30/2021 M58 MPH HILL MT MESONET
MESONET STATION EW1937 GOLDSTONE.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
140 AM MST WED DEC 1 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0118 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 13 S FORT BELKNAP 48.30N 108.72W
12/01/2021 M59 MPH BLAINE MT MESONET
MESONET STATION FBLM8 FORT BELKNAP RAWS.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
142 AM MST WED DEC 1 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0135 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 13 SSE FORESTGROVE 46.83N 108.93W
12/01/2021 M60 MPH FERGUS MT AWOS
AWOS STATION KMVH N BAR RANCH AWOS.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
156 AM MST WED DEC 1 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0118 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 ENE EAST GLACIER PARK 48.45N 113.20W
12/01/2021 M91 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTBRN TWO MEDICINE BRIDGE
(MT DOT).
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
200 AM MST WED DEC 1 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1230 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 SSW LOMA 47.89N 110.53W
12/01/2021 M59 MPH CHOUTEAU MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTM45 3.2 SW LOMA (MT-MESO).
1230 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 8 ESE FORT BENTON 47.79N 110.48W
12/01/2021 M59 MPH CHOUTEAU MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTM02 10.2 S LOMA (MT-MESO).
0100 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 4 ESE CHINOOK 48.58N 109.16W
12/01/2021 M59 MPH BLAINE MT MESONET
MESONET STATION MTM48 CHINOOK E - MDA.
0121 AM NON-TSTM WND GST BROWNING 48.56N 113.01W
12/01/2021 M59 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION BGRM8 BROWNING RAWS.
&&15 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Shelby airport reports wind gust of 71 mph at noon. Other reports of high winds were received from across the county in the time indicated.
Wind gust of 81 mph via Facebook. Other locations in the area gusted over to or over 63 mph.
Mesonet station at Two Medicine Bridge (mtbrn) measures wind gust of 108 mph.
Mesonet station gw0625 measures peak wing gust of 62 mph. Multiple other stations gusted over 58 mph through the period indicated.
MT DOT sensor at MacDonanld Pass records wind gust of 67 mph.
Mesonet station jvwm, which is 5.4 miles north of Waterloo, reports wind gust of 60 mph. This appears to be an isolated gust.
Northwest Energy meson 10 miles west of Simms reports a wind gust of 64 mph multiple times through the day.
First LSR of High Winds. Winds would eventually reach 77 mph around 10AM.
Mesonet station klette reports a wind gust of 58 mph. In addition, the public reported a house with significant roof damage west of Power, MT around 10 AM.
MT DOT sensor at Geyser (mtgys) reports wind gust of 66 mph.
Great Falls ASOS measures wind gust of 71 mph.
AWOS station at N Bar Ranch reports wind gust of 75 mph.
Coop Observer reports wind gust of 67 mph.
Public reports wind gust of 61 mph.
Mesonet station mtm05 arc-wtri near Conrad MT reports wind gust of 64 mph.
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: 992452, 990395, 992442, 992449, 992447, 992445, 992448, 992443, 992451, 992446, 990394, 990397, 990393, 992444, 992450.