A strong cold front moved through the Billings Forecast area. Strong pressure rises behind the front, combined with strong winds aloft that mixed to the surface, resulted in widespread high wind gusts.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 strong cold front moved through the Billings Forecast area. Strong pressure rises behind the front, combined with strong winds aloft that mixed to the surface, resulted in widespread high wind gusts.
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 Feb 9, 2:27 AM MST, 3 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
227 AM MST Wed Feb 9 2022
.DISCUSSION...
Today through Thursday...
Upper ridge over the far east Pacific will keep Montana in
northwest flow aloft the next couple of days. This flow pattern
will provide active weather as shortwaves dive southeast out of
Canada.
The first wave will be the weaker of the two, with the main
impacts (in regarding precipitation chances) over the Dakotas and
northeast Wyoming. Will see scattered PoPs over southeast Montana
and the Beartooth/Absaroka foothills. The best chance of snow
showers will be over the Bighorns and along north to northwest
facing slopes over the Bighorn foothills. Winds will increase in
the afternoon as mid level winds strengthen with the shortwave
moving in. Gusts of 25-30 mph will be common. Temperatures will be
very similar to Tuesday with highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s.
Snow showers will taper off tonight. Focus then turns to Thursday
which will be active with wind and warmth.
A strong shortwave moves into south central Canada Thursday. This
will tighten up the surface pressure gradient over the western
foothills. Winds will increase for Livingston and Nye to Big
Timber and Harlowton. Have issued a Wind Advisory for the Paradise
and Upper Stillwater River Valleys, as stronger winds will start
late tonight. 700mb winds increase to 55kts over the west Thursday
morning. These winds orientate well for possible high winds from
Big Timber to Harlowton Thursday morning into Thursday evening.
Have issued a High Wind Watch for these locations. Strong winds
will also mix down across the central and eastern plains as 850mb
winds increase to 35-40 kts. Expect gusts of 30-40 mph by
afternoon. Compressional warming will allow highs to surge into
the lower 60s in places. Humidities will fall into the 20s. The
combination of unseasonably mild temperatures, gusty winds and low
humidities will pose a fire concern for areas that have not
received much snowfall of late. TWH
Thursday night through Wednesday...
Precipitation potential has trending upwards for the shortwave
that will cut across the area Friday morning. A short window of
upsloping will bring a shot of snow to south-central MT Friday
morning, and large scale ascent will bring a shot of snow to SE
Montana during the same timeframe. With the recent ramp up, its
hard to determine if this will stick around, especially since
solutions show minimal precipitation amounts the past couple days,
but due to timing alone and falling temperatures Thursday night,
expect snow-covered roads and possibly slick conditions for the
Friday morning commute.
While winds along the foothills west of Billings will decrease
Thursday night, strong pressure gradient behind the frontal
passage will keep winds gusting 30-45 mph across the area, with
highest confidence for higher-end gusts along the foothills, and
in the far SE. Winds may be gusting this strong as snow begins to
fall, so blowing snow is a possibility as well Friday morning.
After the shortwave passage, upper ridging will dominate the
weather pattern for the weekend into early next week to once again
allow temperatures to rebound back into the 50s by Sunday. The dry
weekend and start to next week looks to stop sometime late
Monday/Tuesday with a trough that swings over the western CONUS.
While there's a decent chance for precipitation with this system
to occur, don't get hopes up for cooler temperatures, as most
guidance wants to keep above normal temperatures for much of next
week. Vertz
&&
.AVIATION...
Winds will become gusty again by late morning and continue into
the afternoon. There will be scattered snow showers in the
mountains today. There will also be scattered rain and snow
showers over southeast Montana and north central Wyoming from late
morning through the afternoon, most likely nearest the Dakotas
border. Brief MVFR conditions are possible in the showers over the
east, otherwise, VFR will prevail for most terminals.TWH
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tdy Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 054 038/063 032/040 023/050 031/052 029/054 030/039
1/N 00/N 32/S 00/B 00/U 01/B 43/S
LVM 047 036/055 029/039 022/048 027/049 029/049 025/034
1/N 00/N 11/N 00/N 00/N 02/O 53/S
HDN 053 036/062 029/040 019/050 027/051 025/056 026/039
2/R 10/N 43/S 00/B 00/U 01/B 44/S
MLS 047 033/059 030/035 018/045 028/046 023/051 026/036
2/O 10/N 32/S 10/B 00/B 00/B 22/S
4BQ 047 033/060 030/035 019/045 028/046 025/053 026/036
4/O 20/N 43/S 10/B 00/U 00/B 22/S
BHK 040 029/055 025/031 013/039 024/041 020/047 023/033
5/O 21/N 23/S 10/B 00/B 00/B 11/N
SHR 050 031/061 026/036 017/048 026/049 025/057 024/036
4/O 20/B 54/S 10/B 00/U 00/B 45/S
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...High Wind Watch in effect from Thursday morning through
Thursday evening FOR ZONES 63-141-172-228.
Wind Advisory in effect from 3 AM to 9 PM MST Thursday FOR
ZONES 65-66.
WY...None.
&&
weather.gov/billingsPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
354 AM MST WED FEB 09 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0255 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 SSW BIG TIMBER 45.81N 109.98W
02/09/2022 M53.00 MPH SWEET GRASS MT ASOS
&&
TWHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds gusted up to 58 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 59 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted from 60-67 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 61 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 58 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 58 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 58 mph across the Broadview area.
Winds gusted to 59 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 59 mph across the area.
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: 1004551, 1004525, 1004986, 1004520, 1003207, 1003209, 1003208, 1003206, 1004985, 1004987, 1004988.