A shortwave trough dove southeastward across the area, which resulted in widespread gusty winds across North Central and Southwestern Montana. Many areas saw wind gusts to around 60 mph, with a few areas along the Rocky Mountain Front seeing wind gusts to around 80 mph.
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 shortwave trough dove southeastward across the area, which resulted in widespread gusty winds across North Central and Southwestern Montana. Many areas saw wind gusts to around 60 mph, with a few areas along the Rocky Mountain Front seeing wind gusts to around 80 mph.
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 Feb 6, 10:35 PM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 1035 PM MST Sun Feb 6 2022 ...Aviation Section Updated... .UPDATE... No updates to the overnight forecast. Only adjustment was to the hourly temperatures and relative humidities to better reflect current conditions. Winds will stay breezy over the plains, which will likely allow temperatures to stay near to above freezing for much of the night. Winds are still on track to increase from the west from after midnight through the early morning hours. -Coulston && .SYNOPSIS... Dry and mainly mild conditions are expected over the region through much of this week, with the exception of some isolated mountain showers Monday, and some light precipitation with a quick moving weather system late this week. Otherwise, the main weather impact will be strong wind across most of north-central Montana on Monday, with another period of stronger winds possible again on Thursday. && .AVIATION... 1035 PM MST Sun Feb 6 2022 (07/06Z TAF period) The main concern over the next 24 hours will be gusty surface winds, low-level wind shear, and mountain wave turbulence in North-central and Central Montana. Elsewhere in Southwest Montana, gusty winds in valleys will be present, but less of a concern. VFR conditions prevail at all terminals this TAF period, with mountain obscuration possible after 18Z along the Continental Divide and mountains of Central Montana. -AM Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 625 PM MST Sun Feb 6 2022/ Upper level ridge along the west coast with axis extending north into BC will slump southeast tonight ahead of a shortwave trough crashing onshore that moves SE across southern AB and MT Monday. Overall forecast has changed little with respect to this system and anticipated strong winds across most of north-central MT Monday and the remaining high wind watch was upgraded to a warning for eastern portions of north-central MT. Expect strengthening winds along the Rocky Mtn Front late tonight with gusts in excess of 50kts spreading east onto the adjacent high plains and as far east as Cut Bank Monday morning. Period of strongest winds in these areas is likely to occur during the Monday morning period as cross-barrier flow and favorable temp/wind profiles for downslope wind enhancement peak, resulting in potential gusts to 80 mph or higher, especially right along the Rocky Mtn Front. Expect strong winds with gusts in excess of 50kts to develop by late Monday morning downwind of the Little Belts and central MT ranges with the rest of north-central MT seeing a period of strong winds translate east across the area Monday afternoon into early evening as the shortwave passes followed by mid-level cold advection to help mix winds down to the surface. SW MT is largely unaffected by this system with windy conditions primarily confined to higher mountain ridges. In addition to the strong winds across the plains on Monday, unseasonably mild temperatures in the mid to upper 50s and humidity as low as around 20% will contribute to increased grassland fire danger in areas where snow-cover is absent. Fortunately, most areas have seen at least intermittent snow- cover over the last few weeks and residual soil moisture is likely to mitigate a greater fire weather concern. Hoenisch Tuesday through Sunday...Expect a mostly dry weather pattern over the region during this period. The one exception will be on Friday, as the forecast models differ on whether or not to bring an Alberta clipper south through our region. The NBM has quite low POPs for this time period, thus POPs were increased a touch over the NBM. Otherwise, temperatures look on track, with above normal temperatures expected through the period. Brusda && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 30 57 28 47 / 0 0 0 0 CTB 30 51 28 43 / 0 0 0 0 HLN 21 48 28 46 / 0 0 0 0 BZN 8 42 17 41 / 0 0 0 0 WYS -1 31 4 32 / 0 0 0 0 DLN 13 42 20 41 / 0 0 0 0 HVR 30 56 27 46 / 0 0 0 0 LWT 27 53 27 43 / 0 0 0 0 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from 9 AM to 9 PM MST Monday Cascade...Central and Southern Lewis and Clark...Chouteau...Eastern Pondera... Eastern Teton...Judith Basin...Liberty...Meagher...Toole. High Wind Warning from 11 AM to 11 PM MST Monday Blaine... Fergus...Hill. High Wind Warning from 5 AM to 9 PM MST Monday Eastern Glacier... Northern Rocky Mountain Front...Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
133 AM MST MON FEB 7 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0752 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 7 ESE HILGER 47.22N 109.22W
02/06/2022 M58 MPH FERGUS MT MESONET
MESONET STATION JPKM8 JUDITH PEAK RAWS.
0921 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 8 SE EAST GLACIER PARK 48.36N 113.11W
02/06/2022 M76 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION DCRM8 DEEP CREEK RAWS.
&&13 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Cut Bank ASOS measured wind gusts up to 82 mph from early morning through at least the early afternoon.
Scattered wind gusts to 61 mph were reported across Fergus County, including a 61 mph wind gust 1 mile east of Roy from the K1OM AWOS.
Two Medicine Bridge mesonet sensor measured a peak wind gust of 78 mph.
Mesonet station gnfhy 11 miles West of Emigrant measured a wind gust of 61 mph. This is in the mountains and it appears to have been an isolated gust.
Agusta mesonet site reported a wind gust of 65 mph.
Scattered reports of high winds in Judith Basin County. Strongest was a gust to 64 mph at AWOS sensor K1CM Charlie.
Numerous high wind reports throughout the county. Peak gust reported was a 75 mph gust at the mesonet station at the Shelby Airport.
Multiple reports of wind gusts over 58 mph, including a gust to 66 mph from 9 miles southeast of Fort Benton from mesonet station mtm02.
Multiple reports of high winds throughout the county. Peak gust reported was 69 mph from the mesonet site in Joplin.
Multiple sensors in the Ledger area reported high winds, including peak gusts to 67 mph at the mesonet sensor 5 miles to the north of town.
AWOS station K1HM Hotel reported a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
Multiple reports of wind gusts in excess of 58 mph, including a peak gust of 70 mph from a mesonet sensor 20 miles north of Rudyard (ew1937).
A mesonet station 4 miles SE of Virginia City measured a wind gust of 59 mph. This is on the western side of the Greenhorn Mountains, and other sensors in the valley measured wind gusts to around 56 mph though the day.
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, February 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: 1009791, 1009777, 1009793, 1009783, 1009796, 1009795, 1009808, 1009766, 1009798, 1009806, 1009807, 1009794, 1009799.