A core of 50kt winds around 10,000 ft AGL followed a cold front through the area late April 8th into the 9th. The strong pressure gradient behind the front helped translate gusty winds to the surface from aloft along the Rocky Mountain Front.
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 core of 50kt winds around 10,000 ft AGL followed a cold front through the area late April 8th into the 9th. The strong pressure gradient behind the front helped translate gusty winds to the surface from aloft along the Rocky Mountain Front.
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 Apr 8, 1:25 PM MST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 225 PM MDT Fri Apr 8 2022 .SYNOPSIS... The passage of a Pacific cold front this evening will bring a shift from gusty south and southwest to westerly winds along with some showers. A period of strong winds is expected along the Rocky Mountain Front and adjacent areas overnight with gusty west winds across most areas through Saturday. This system will usher in a prolonged stretch of colder than normal temperatures and periods of snow showers this weekend into next week. && .DISCUSSION... Upper level ridge axis shifted east of the area this afternoon with a pre-frontal surface trough of low pressure developing across north-central and SW MT under a SW flow aloft ahead of the incoming upper level trough and Pacific cold front. Warm, dry and breezy to locally windy conditions will continue through the rest of this afternoon ahead of the front, which is expected to cross the continental divide from the west by around 6pm this evening. A shift to west winds occurs with the frontal passage this evening and a period of stronger wind gusts in the 35-45 mph range is likely to follow from W to E across the area behind the front overnight. Stronger winds are likely along the Rocky Mtn Front and across Glacier county tonight through Saturday morning as a mid level wind maximum (50kt+ at 10000kft) moves from NW MT into southern AB above a strong pressure gradient across the Rockies. A High wind Warning has been issued for these areas from 9pm tonight through noon tomorrow and will also need to monitor Blaine and Fergus counties as some models suggest a period of wind gusts in in excess of 50 mph there later tonight after midnight. Showers are expected to develop along the Pacific front late this afternoon and move northeast along and behind the front as is crosses the area this evening. Coverage of these showers will be limited as the front moves east of the divide, but with some marginal instability, an isolated rumble of thunder can't be ruled out. Main impact with these showers however will be the potential for enhanced wind gusts occurring in conjunction with the frontal passage. Much cooler conditions follow across the area on Saturday with daytime temperatures in the 40s or about 20 degrees cooler than today. Additional mainly weak weather disturbances moving through the larger scale upper trough in place across the region will bring some snow showers Saturday and Sunday, with better chances for areas areas near the mountains and during the afternoon periods. A colder airmass with origins in far northern Canada slides south along the Rockies into the area Sunday night and Monday, with the additional cooling likely keeping daytime temperatures in the 30s through the first half of next week and potentially remaining below freezing, particularly on Tuesday. During this time, a larger low pressure system is expected to move from the Northern Great Basin out into the Northern Plains states with widespread wet snow likely to the north of the system. While there is still a considerable amount of uncertainty with precipitation amounts on the northern periphery of this system, medium range models have come into somewhat better agreement, supporting the potential for impactful wet snow accumulation, especially across central and parts of SW MT in the Monday night through Tuesday time period. Hoenisch && .AVIATION... 1145 AM MDT Fri Apr 8 2022 (08/18Z TAF period) VFR conditions persist through this afternoon under an increasing SW flow aloft with broken high level cloud-cover. Surface winds from the SW will increase substantially this afternoon ahead of a Pacific cold front that sweeps east/southeast across the area between 00-06z this evening. Winds shift to westerly with the frontal passage and remain gusty through the rest of tonight and into Saturday. Showers accompany the front across central and southwest MT this evening with a brief period MVFR conditions possible. Hoenisch Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .FIRE WEATHER... There continues to be an increased fire weather concern for Friday afternoon through the day on Saturday. HREF ensembles guidance indicates a 50 percent probability or higher of at least 15 mph sustained winds combined with relative humidity values less than 20 percent for areas along and west of a Havre-Great Falls- Bozeman line for Friday afternoon. A brief period of elevated to near critical fire weather risk can be expected, although increased cloud cover ahead of an approaching Pacific trough and attendant cold front may help reduce the risk by late afternoon. The passage of the cold front Friday night will help cool temperatures and may help lessen the dryness into Saturday, but there is a 80+ percent chance of sustained winds of at least 25 mph. -RCG && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 31 48 23 41 / 30 10 10 40 CTB 31 44 24 37 / 10 20 20 40 HLN 34 47 25 42 / 40 10 10 20 BZN 29 45 20 39 / 60 20 20 30 WYS 22 40 12 32 / 30 30 70 70 DLN 27 43 20 38 / 40 10 20 40 HVR 35 50 28 43 / 20 30 20 30 LWT 31 45 23 38 / 40 20 0 30 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from 9 PM this evening to noon MDT Saturday Eastern Glacier...Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station mtbwg Browning (MT DOT) measured a lone gust of 63 mph outside the valid time of the warning.
Mesonet station mtswt Sweetgrass (MT DOT) measured a lone gust of 60 mph.
Mesonet station delmt Dellwo (mcscn) measured a lone wind gust of 74 mph.
Mesonet station bdlm8 Beaverhead Deerlodge No 2 measured a single wind gust of 60 mph.
Asos station KCTB Cut Bank Airport measured an average sustained wind of 40 mph from 505 AM MDT to 605 AM MDT.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2022
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: 1016168, 1016170, 1016169, 1016166, 1023922.