With precipitation totals well below normal through this month, the winter drought over the eastern edge of Montana expanded further toward the west, now entering into portions of McCone, Dawson, and Prairie Counties.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
With precipitation totals well below normal through this month, the winter drought over the eastern edge of Montana expanded further toward the west, now entering into portions of McCone, Dawson, and Prairie Counties.
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 25, 10:02 PM MST, 1 hour 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 1002 PM MST Mon Jan 25 2021 .DISCUSSION... 1000PM UPDATE: Main change this evening came late as a large arctic airmass clearing is pushing into the northeastern third of the CWA. This push was not anticipated by any model and therefore options to update the sky and overnight lows were limited. So, had to do a lot by hand tweaks and interpolation to get the next 6 to 12 hours on track. Even then, models are pushing for the clearing to close up, while satellite trends indicate it will remain open for a long period through tonight. Going with Satellite extrapolation for the clouds and then by follow up temps, but definitely second guessing myself due the short term model trends. So, confidence in this is low. GAH AFTERNOON UPDATE: The general pattern of troughing over Montana should continue for much of the forecast period. In the short term, this means we'll actually have another couple of days that are below normal before temperatures rebound late in the week through the weekend into early next week as upper level ridging returns. There still isn't really a precipitation-producing system on the horizon, either, outside of an upper level disturbance that might trigger a dusting of snow in the region, but that's it: most of the energy--and the energetic storm systems--stay well to our south. Wind chills through Wednesday morning... Went ahead and issued another wind chill advisory north of a line from roughly Thoeny to Culbertson as once again wind chill values dip below the -20 threshold in this area tonight through the morning hours. A reasonable argument could be made for including the Central/Southern Valley County zone in this advisory as well because the eastern portions of the county should see -20 or colder wind chills, mainly around Larslan and Lustre. Another advisory is possible for Tuesday night / Wednesday morning for Sheridan and Daniels Counties, but after that temperatures should be up enough to prevent advisory-level wind chills from kicking up. Low clouds and (freezing) fog (through Tuesday)... Ceilings really haven't gone up much at all today, and they really shouldn't do much overnight tonight or tomorrow morning. There's also potential for some freezing fog to develop during the overnight hours tonight if those cloud bases can drop to the ground. Flurries are also possible generally south of the Missouri River tonight and Tuesday morning, but more likely south of MT-200. 97 && .AVIATION... LAST UPDATED: 0500Z FLIGHT CAT: VFR-MVFR WIND: E-NE 5-15 kts through the cycle. DISCUSSION: KOLF and KGDV are currently on the border of a low stratus deck oriented northwest to southeast in MVFR conditions. KSDY has cleared while KGGW is socked in with clouds around 1500 ft. The orientation of this clearing line will remain over KOLF and KGDV allowing them to move in and out of clouds through most of the night. While the other two terminals should remain steady through the night. If this deck moves a retreat of the clearing and respread of clouds may be possible after 12Z. Confidence in this retreat is low however and it could easily be delayed further when looking at satellite trends. GAH && .GLASGOW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Chill Advisory until 11 AM MST Tuesday for Daniels... Eastern Roosevelt...Northern Valley...Sheridan...Western Roosevelt. && weather.gov/glasgow
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Drought Conditions (D2-Severe) over roughly the eastern third of Dawson County began on January 26th and persisted there through the remainder of the month.
Drought Conditions (D2-Severe) over the far eastern edge of Prairie County began on January 26th and persisted there through the remainder of the month.
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, January 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: 936059, 936060.