Widespread, strong winds moved across the Treasure State ahead of a Pacific cold front, with the strongest along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Every event with a place to put it; 13 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 TFX wrote it up.
Widespread, strong winds moved across the Treasure State ahead of a Pacific cold front, with the strongest 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 Mar 1, 10:35 PM MST, 3 hours 29 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 1035 PM MST Wed Mar 1 2023 ...Aviation Section Updated... .SYNOPSIS... South and west winds will begin to increase across Southwest through North Central Montana this evening, becoming very strong along the Rocky Mountain Front tonight and through the day on Thursday. In addition, snow will begin increase in coverage along the Continental Divide on Thursday and persist into the day on Friday, with several inches of snow possible over mountain passes. && .UPDATE... The evening update has been published. Winds along the Rocky Mountain Front are slowly increasing this evening and will peak in strength later tonight into Thursday morning. The High Wind Warning and Winter Weather Advisory for blowing/drifting snow remain on track. Winds, minimum temperatures, and sky grids were amended per current trends; Otherwise, no other changes are needed this evening. -RCG && .AVIATION... 1035 PM MST Wed Mar 1 2023 (02/06Z TAF Period) Primarily VFR conditions are expected for much of the period; however, there will be mountain obscuration along the Continental Divide and the southwest mountains at times. A weak wave will bring low VFR clouds and some showers Thursday morning to soutwest terminals. This will be followed by a Pacific cold frontal passage and snow shower activity towards the end of the TAF period, mainly over the mountains. Strong and gusty winds and associated mountain wave turbulence develops along the Rocky Mountain Front and adjacent plains this evening and spread deeper into North-Central MT by Thursday. Winds over the north-south oriented southwest valleys, including KEKS, will become gusty on Thursday as well. Britton Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 233 PM MST Wed Mar 1 2023/ Rest of today through Friday...H500 ridge over the Pacific Northwest and British Colombia this afternoon will slide east and over the Northern Rockies through the day on Thursday, all the while being broken down as a robust shortwave over the Gulf of Alaska digs to the southeast and over the Pacific Northwest. This flattening of the H500 ridge over the Northern Rockies combined with increasing cross barrier flow will lead to increasing south to west surface winds across Southwest through North Central Montana from the evening hours tonight and through the day on Thursday. Surface winds will become very strong over this period along the Rocky Mountain Front, with deterministic guidance indicating that the surface pressure gradient will peak at between 17.5 to 22.5 mb/km from 03z-18z Thursday along the eastern slopes of the Continental Divide over Central and North Central Montana. BUFKIT analysis over this same timeframe also supports ideal conditions (i.e. ridgetop stability) for mountain wave activity, with Hi-Res model guidance suggesting at least one eastward propagating mountain wave from near East Glacier and the Gleason areas to Cut Bank and Choteau between the the hours of 00z and 09z Thursday. Given this potential for an earlier than anticipated mountain wave moving east and over the adjacent plains, we have moved up the start time for the High Wind Warning for Eastern Glacier/Western Toole/Central Pondera County zone from 07z to 01z Thursday. NBM probabilistic data remains very strong in its support for high sustained winds of 34kts or greater across the High Wind Warning, with Cut Bank, Browning, and Dellwo all have a 90-100% chance of seeing these high sustained wind speeds. Additionally, there exists 90-100% chance of wind gusts exceeding 48kts at Cut Bank, Browning, East Glacier, Dellwo, Gleason, and St Mary, and a 25- 35% (Cut Bank, St Mary, and Gleason) and 65-75% (Browning, East Glacier, and Dellwo) chance of exceeding 64kts. In addition to the strong winds, recent snowfall across the East Glacier Park Region, Southern Rocky Mountain Front, and Northern and Southern High Plains, particularly along and west of the US Hwy 89 corridor from Choteau to the International Border, combined with the winds through Thursday morning will lead to blowing and drifting snow. The WSSI (Winter Storm Severity Index) continues to suggest the development of moderate impacts from the combination of this blowing and drifting snow, which will lead to hazardous driving conditions and the potential for some road closures. Given these expected conditions, a Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 19z Thursday for the aforementioned areas. Believe that the lack of deep snowpack across these areas will help to mitigate the severity of visibility reductions above advisory criteria. Falling snow will also begin to increase in coverage along the Continental Divide during the day on Thursday, with snow continuing into the afternoon hours on Friday here as Pacific moisture advects eastward and over the mountains within a fast, zonal flow aloft. Snowfall accumulations of 4-7" are becoming increasingly likely for Marias Pass from Thursday morning through Friday afternoon, with upwards of 12" being possible over the higher peaks of Glacier National Park. While the current Winter Weather Advisory is set to expire at 19z on Thursday and deals solely with the blowing snow hazard of this event, an eventual temporal extension of the advisory will be need with future shifts for at least the East Glacier Park Region and possibly the Southern Rocky Mountain Front. - Moldan Saturday through next Wednesday...a colder and wetter pattern is upon us heading into the weekend, with temperatures falling back below normal across the CWA on Sunday and remaining so through early next week. Deterministic models try to develop a deep upper-level trough across the Pacific over this timeframe. This lines up fairly well with CPC's 8 to 14 day outlook, showcasing a 70 to 80% probability of below average temperatures and a 40 to 50% probability of leaning above normal precipitation. - Pierce/Moldan && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 26 46 30 38 / 10 10 10 20 CTB 23 41 24 34 / 0 10 10 0 HLN 19 40 28 37 / 0 20 30 30 BZN 7 34 15 31 / 10 20 30 30 WYS -12 24 5 24 / 40 50 70 70 DLN 8 36 15 27 / 10 10 20 20 HVR 12 38 24 34 / 0 20 10 20 LWT 18 38 25 33 / 10 10 30 20 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 6 PM MST Thursday for East Glacier Park Region-Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera- Northern High Plains-Southern High Plains-Southern Rocky Mountain Front. Winter Weather Advisory until noon MST Thursday for East Glacier Park Region-Northern High Plains-Southern High Plains-Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1203 AM MST THU MAR 2 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0930 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 14 W BYNUM 47.98N 112.61W
03/01/2023 M57 MPH TETON MT MESONET
MESONET STATION DELMT DELLWO (MCSCN).
1029 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 11 WNW AUGUSTA 47.55N 112.61W
03/01/2023 M65 MPH LEWIS AND CLARK MT MESONET
MESONET STATION TR276 L-C PORTABLE NO. 1.
1121 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 8 SE EAST GLACIER PARK 48.36N 113.11W
03/01/2023 M70 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION DCRM8 DEEP CREEK RAWS.
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1248 AM MST THU MAR 2 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1221 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 8 SE EAST GLACIER PARK 48.36N 113.11W
03/02/2023 M85 MPH GLACIER MT MESONET
MESONET STATION DCRM8 DEEP CREEK RAWS.
&&
BRUSDAThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
13 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesoneet station MTBRN (Two Medicine Bridge) reported 76 mph wind gust.
Public report from LJ Johnson Farms reported 81 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station DELMT (Dellwo) reported 60 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station TR276 (L-C Portable No. 1) reported 67 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station GW0664 (Shelby airport) reported 57 mph wind gust.
ASOS station KCTB (Cut Bank airport) reported 75 mph wind gust.
Public report Morris Ranch station reported 57 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station MTBWG (Browning) reported 71 mph wind gust.
Trained spotter reported 65 mph wind gust. No blowing or drifting snow noted as the snowpack has a substantial local crust.
Mesonet station MTM76 (Cascade E MDA) reported 63 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station DVI01740 (Fort Benton) reported 62 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station Benton Lake reported 58 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station DCRM8 (Deep Creek raws) reported 87 mph wind gust.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, March 2023
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: 1082137, 1082136, 1082144, 1082140, 1082146, 1082138, 1082147, 1082139, 1082141, 1082142, 1082143, 1082145, 1082135.