A strong cold front swept across the Billings Forecast Area late on the 4th ushering in strong northwest winds. In addition, strong winds aloft mixed to the surface on the 5th resulting in high wind gusts across south central and southeast Montana.
Every event with a place to put it; 17 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 swept across the Billings Forecast Area late on the 4th ushering in strong northwest winds. In addition, strong winds aloft mixed to the surface on the 5th resulting in high wind gusts across south central and southeast Montana.
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 5, 1:25 AM MST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
225 AM MDT Sat Nov 5 2022
.DISCUSSION...
Today through Sunday...
Winds have already gusted to 67 mph at Livingston Friday evening,
and also hitting 66 mph at the 2 am observation. These stronger
winds will move off the higher terrain into the western foothills
from Big Timber to Harlowton and Judith Gap, with gusts of 60 to
65 mph expected today in those locations. A cold front will push
into western zones early this afternoon and take winds down below
Advisory criteria at Livingston, but keep the winds strong at
Harlowton and Big Timber, with 70kts present at 700mb. 70kt 700mb
winds and 50kt 850mb winds will spread over the northern half of
the central plains late this morning (basically from Columbus to
Billings to Colstrip, then onto parts of southeast Montana (Custer
county) by noon. The strong winds will continue into very early
evening. Wind gusts of 55 to 65 mph are expected in Miles City by
early afternoon. Added Custer county to Warning with strong mixing
potential. Dropped Fallon county from the Watch, as winds aloft
do not look as strong as areas north and west.
Strong winds aloft will be fighting ascent all day, with clouds
and showers developing early this morning and sweeping across the
forecast area by early afternoon. Subsidence should work into the
forecast area early afternoon and this will allow the winds to mix
to the ground. Through the morning it looks to be bursts of winds
before becoming more steady this afternoon. Strong wind threat
for this evening will be short with the sun setting earlier and
earlier and the atmosphere decoupling. The showers mentioned could
have pockets of heavier rain/snow, especially along the
foothills. Precipitation will likely start out as rain, or a rain
and snow mix, then change to all snow, with bursts of heavier snow
possible late this morning that could put a quick dusting to an
inch of accumulation on the ground (mainly along the foothills).
The mountains will continue the stream of moisture and with the
atmosphere not being totally stable aloft, and strong jet energy
nosing in, could have 1-2 inch an hour snow rates over the high
county this morning into early afternoon. Will keep the Winter
Storm Warning in place for the high country.
Sunday quiets down quite a bit, as the mid level flow backs with
a deep trough moving closer to the western United States.
Temperatures will be cooler behind the cold frontal passage of
today, with maxes in the 30s to lower 40s. The mountains will
start to see an increase in moisture late Sunday afternoon (but
mainly Sunday night) for the next round of snow there. TWH
Sunday night through Friday...
The extended continues to look very active and much colder.
Monday is the day that the really cold air to moves in. Highs
will be limited to right around freezing or lower from Billings
west Monday, with the rest of the area in the 40s and 50s ahead of
the cold front. The rest of the week will see highs in the 20s
and lows in the single digits and teens. There is still
significant spread in the ensembles, however, each of the model
systems have maintained their respective trends. The cluster
analysis does show that the coldest solutions are a little less
favored. Still, no matter the solution, temperatures will be well
below normal.
In addition to the cold, there still looks like periods of snow
through the week. The snow will mainly be focused west of Billings
on Monday, as a surface low tracks through southeast Montana,
that will likely dry slot the southeast. The remainder of the work
week will be dominated by continued moist southwest flow aloft.
Ensemble were coming around to the solution of a low cutting off
and moving over Wyoming or Montana for the Tuesday through
Thursday time frame, producing a potential big snow event.
Uncertainty is great on this, as ensembles have been adjusting
daily to get a handle on this dynamic flow pattern. All of this
being said, the period that most favorable for potential highlight
worthy snow accumulations is in the Tuesday through Wednesday
night time frame. Need to emphasize low confidence for picking a
big snow accumulation day, or days, this far out, but will
continue to monitor closely as the models get their heads around
this dynamic Fall pattern. TWH
&&
.AVIATION...
Strong west winds are the main aviation impact for today with an
approaching cold front. VFR conditions are expected at all TAF
sites, however the Absaroka/Beartooth mountains will continue to
be obstructed with ongoing snow showers. Strong wind advisory gap
winds will continue at KLVM through the day. The ongoing strongest
winds will occur into the morning hours before the approaching
cold front moves through knocking the gusts down a little. Strong
wind gusts will also impact K6SO & KHWQ through the morning and
late afternoon hours. KBIL & KMLS will see strong west wind gusts
around 40 to 50 knots, and KSHR will see slightly weaker gusts
around 35 knots. Finally, a disturbance will generate rain and
snow showers, changing to all snow by late morning, that could be
robust, sending conditions down to IFR or lower briefly (mainly
along the foothills). Arends/TWH
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
Tdy Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 052 027/042 023/037 019/024 009/019 005/025 007/029
4/O 10/B 24/S 65/S 54/S 42/S 11/B
LVM 049 021/042 017/035 014/027 007/026 006/030 009/035
5/O 30/B 57/S 96/S 65/S 42/S 11/B
HDN 055 024/042 021/045 015/026 008/020 001/025 003/030
5/O 10/U 13/O 44/S 54/S 52/S 11/B
MLS 054 024/037 021/045 019/027 012/020 004/018 003/023
4/O 00/U 13/O 32/S 44/S 43/S 21/B
4BQ 053 026/040 024/053 021/032 013/023 007/023 008/030
5/R 10/U 11/N 22/O 33/S 43/S 21/B
BHK 053 021/035 017/043 022/032 012/023 006/020 005/023
4/O 00/N 13/S 12/O 33/S 43/S 21/B
SHR 055 019/042 019/050 018/032 009/024 005/028 007/034
4/R 20/U 22/O 33/S 44/S 53/S 21/U
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...High Wind Warning in effect from 9 AM this morning to
midnight MDT tonight FOR ZONES 29>32-34-42-57-170-173-235.
High Wind Warning in effect until 9 PM MDT this evening FOR
ZONES 63-141-172-228.
Wind Advisory in effect until 6 PM MDT this evening FOR ZONES
65-66.
Winter Storm Warning in effect until 9 PM MDT this evening
FOR ZONE 67.
WY...None.
&&
weather.gov/billingsPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1149 PM MDT FRI NOV 04 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1028 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 WSW LIVINGSTON 45.65N 110.60W
11/04/2022 M58.00 MPH PARK MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
&&
LAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
442 AM MDT SAT NOV 05 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0129 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 ENE LIVINGSTON 45.69N 110.50W
11/05/2022 M64.00 MPH PARK MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
0150 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 6 ENE LIVINGSTON 45.70N 110.45W
11/05/2022 M66.00 MPH PARK MT ASOS
0212 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 17 NE WILSALL 46.16N 110.38W
11/05/2022 M70.00 MPH PARK MT MESONET
0218 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 17 S FORT SMITH 45.07N 107.89W
11/05/2022 M59.00 MPH BIG HORN MT MESONET
0300 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 9 SE MELVILLE 46.00N 109.84W
11/05/2022 M53.00 MPH SWEET GRASS MT MESONET
0328 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 WSW LIVINGSTON 45.65N 110.60W
11/05/2022 M63.00 MPH PARK MT DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
0354 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 WSW NYE 45.41N 109.87W
11/05/2022 M56.00 MPH STILLWATER MT MESONET
&&
LAThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
17 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Winds gusted up to 67 mph across the Reed Point area.
Winds gusted up to 62 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 66 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 58 mph across the Ekalaka area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the Broadview area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 59 mph across the Hardin area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 61 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 75 mph. A truck was blown over on US 191.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 64 mph across the area.
Winds gusted to 60 mph across the area.
Winds gusted from 59 to 62 mph across the area.
Winds gusted up to 63 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: 1059789, 1059793, 1062651, 1059974, 1059780, 1059785, 1059784, 1059786, 1059787, 1059788, 1059792, 1062653, 1059791, 1059790, 1059782, 1059776, 1062655.