A tight west/east surface pressure gradient across the western portions of the forecast area resulted in some high wind gusts.
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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 tight west/east surface pressure gradient across the western portions of the forecast area resulted in some 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 Nov 24, 1:44 AM MST, 4 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
144 AM MST Thu Nov 24 2022
.DISCUSSION...
Today through Friday...
Happy Thanksgiving!
Satellite imagery shows a building ridge from the west and return
to anticyclonic flow in the wake of yesterday's shortwave. Most of
our forecast area has seen skies become clear...the exception
being far southeast MT where it will happen soon. The ridge is
highly amplified, extending northward thru much of British
Columbia and Alberta, and will bring a couple of dry days along
with a very warm Friday.
1034mb surface high is moving quickly southward and we are already
seeing pressure falls in north central MT. The developing klondike
chinook will bring increasing winds along the western foothills,
and in fact we are already seeing ~30 mph wind gusts at Big
Timber. Northerly flow aloft will favor the non-gap locations
today...i.e. places like Big Timber and Harlowton should be
windier than Livingston...and even Billings could see gusts
approach 40 mph by this evening. Mid level flow begins to back
tonight and while it will remain quite windy, do not see quite
enough wind to support highlight level winds. Local wind gust tool
shows a 15% chance of 58 mph gusts at Livingston by early Friday,
and the other sites are even lower. So, figure on gusts on the
order of 45-55 mph if you are traveling. By Friday evening, mid
level flow backs to westerly and increases to near 40 knots ahead
of the next shortwave. Believe Friday night offers the most likely
time for the gap areas to reach advisory level gusts. This will
need to be watched.
Otherwise, temps today will reach the 40s across the region, and
tonight will be fairly mild w/ wind and persistent downslope
warming. Friday will be the warmest day as 700mb temps reach near
+6C, and falling heights should promote a bit better mixing (and
it is the mixing or lack thereof that will determine how warm we
get, which is not entirely clear at this point). Have pushed
expected highs tomorrow up a few degrees to get highs in the 50s
regionwide. Foothill locations and especially Sheridan could see
temps reach 60+ degrees, again with even a bit of mixing. A 90th
percentile temp at Sheridan would be 64F...not out of the
question on the lee side of the Bighorns.
JKL
Friday night through Wednesday...
Winds will continue to be gusty along the foothills overnight
Friday, but will decrease through the day Saturday as the ridging
breaks down with a quick shortwave comes across. There will be a
little moisture with the shortwave some there will be a slight
chance to chance for some precipitation, mainly over the
mountains. Amounts will only be a couple of inches in the
mountains. This will be a quick shot, as ridging will be already
working back in Saturday night. With this shortwave high moving
in, expecting the winds along the foothills to again increase. The
pressure gradient will be a little better orientation than the
Friday winds, with local guidance showing 50 mph gusts likely
(70%), but currently the probability of reaching 58 mph or greater
is around around 35%. These strong winds will continue into
Sunday evening before starting to decrease.
Next week still looks cold, with a broad trough dropping out of
Canada into the Northern Rockies. Flow will then remain out of the
northwest through the week. Temperatures will be falling Monday
with highs generally in the 20s and low in the teens through the
remainder of the extended. Overall the cluster analysis of the
ensembles do not really favor any particular solution. The best
chance for snow is still Monday into Tuesday as the main trough
drops in, with a couple of inches in the lower elevations, and up
to 6 inches in the mountains. With the cold air in place and some
moisture moving through the northwesterly flow, there will be more
chances for some light snow through the extended. Reimer
&&
.AVIATION...
Building strong ridge will bring widespread VFR and mostly clear
skies today and tonight. Gusty SW-W winds will impact the western
foothills including KLVM, K6S0 & KHWQ...expect 30-45 knot gusts at
these locations. JKL
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tdy Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 042 033/053 035/044 026/042 022/028 009/020 006/026
0/N 00/N 13/W 01/B 57/S 63/S 11/B
LVM 044 034/052 030/040 022/038 017/026 002/018 004/027
0/N 00/N 13/J 02/S 87/S 52/S 22/S
HDN 042 022/050 027/042 018/042 019/029 005/019 902/026
0/U 00/B 15/W 00/B 37/S 64/S 11/B
MLS 040 027/050 030/040 022/040 020/027 008/017 001/024
0/U 00/U 02/W 00/B 25/S 44/S 11/B
4BQ 044 028/053 028/042 023/042 022/030 008/017 002/026
0/U 00/U 03/W 10/B 15/S 64/S 10/B
BHK 040 027/050 028/036 020/037 019/026 006/016 901/021
0/U 00/U 01/B 00/B 13/S 44/S 10/B
SHR 046 025/058 028/042 018/043 018/029 003/017 901/030
0/U 00/U 06/W 10/B 27/S 75/S 11/B
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...None.
WY...None.
&&
weather.gov/billingsThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds gusted to 58 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 66 mph for a short time.
Winds gusted to 59 mph for a short time.
Winds gusted to 58 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, November 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: 1062644, 1062645, 1062647, 1062639.