A shortwave within strong westerly flow aloft helped translate isolated strong winds and gusts to the surface along the Rocky Mountain Front and adjacent plains during the late evening of 4/8.
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The episode as NWS TFX wrote it up.
A shortwave within strong westerly flow aloft helped translate isolated strong winds and gusts to the surface along the Rocky Mountain Front and adjacent plains during the late evening of 4/8.
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 Apr 8, 8:45 PM MST, 14 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 945 PM MDT Mon Apr 8 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Today, warmer and drier weather is forecast. Tonight, strong gusty winds begin to develop across The North and South Rocky Mountain Front and the adjacent plains. In that area, High Winds are possible tomorrow. Additionally, some mostly mountain moisture falls across portions of north central, central and southwest Montana into Wednesday morning. && .UPDATE... 945 PM Update... Have upgraded the High Wind Watch to a Warning that starts immediately for the Northern and Southern Rocky Mountain Front zones, the Northern High Plains and east into the Cut Bank area. Have also included the Southern High Plains zone. Many locations have already reached sustained winds in the 25 to 30 mph range with gusts into the 35 to 45 mph. It is anticipated that they should continue to increase throughout the night. The winds are also still on track to decrease a bit in the late morning hours, but increase again in the afternoon. -Coulston 831 PM Update... No changes to the current forecast for tonight. Strong winds are still possible along the front range of the Rockies and in the Cut Bank area, but current thinking is that most areas will generally be below warning criteria. However, some 00z guidance might come in with slight stronger winds, so midnight shift will take another look about possibly changing the high wind watch to a warning. Scattered rain/snow showers develop along the divide tonight, then spread over Central/Southwest MT on Tuesday. Brusda && .AVIATION... 830 PM MDT Mon Apr 8 2024 (09/00Z TAF Period) VFR conditions will occur this evening, but do expect increasing clouds overnight. Rain/snow develops along the divide, with a few rain/snow showers on Tuesday over Central and Southwest MT. Overall, VFR conditions expected at most terminal sites through the period. Mountains/passes will be obscured at times along the Rocky Mountain Front and across Southwest MT. Brusda Refer to weather.gov/zlc for more detailed regional aviation weather and hazard information. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 308 PM MDT Mon Apr 8 2024/ Note: The forecast area for the National Weather Service Great Falls Weather Forecast Office includes north central, central and southwest Montana. Today and Tomorrow...Monday, an upper level ridge begins to build into the region, favoring warming and drying conditions. An upper level trof entering the Canadian west coast, removes mass from the ridge, and a strong cross-barrier flow develops across The Continental Divide. The National Blend of Models (NBM) v4.2, continues to include Cut Bank in an area of 78% probability to experience Maximum Wind Gusts of >= 48KT/55 mph. Having said this, northwesterly winds dominate the H700 wind component forecast. A westerly to west southwesterly wind component would be more preferred for a high wind setup. Mountain Wave is forecast under the period of mountain top stability. If we reach High Wind criteria, I believe that said criteria will be reached with sustained wind speeds at Cut Bank during the Tuesday afternoon hours. Due to Meteorologist low confidence in an imminent High Wind event, I've chosen to continue the High Wind Watch, with the associated language that High Winds are "possible" across The N/S Rocky Mountain Front and the adjacent Hi-Line area. The afore mentioned trofing passing across the upper level ridge, allows some mountain snow, and some rain (rain/snow) to fall at lower elevations. - Fogleman Wednesday through Thursday...Ensemble clusters are in good agreement with the H500 ridge axis shifting east from over the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada (on Wednesday) to the Northern Rockies (through Thursday afternoon/evening). This will place the Northern Rockies beneath northwesterly flow, both at the surface and aloft, on Wednesday which will help to maintain isolated to scattered rain/snow showers across much of Central and North Central Montana through afternoon hours. High temperatures on Wednesday will be near normal across all of Southwest through North Central Montana, with readings rebounding back above normal on Thursday as the upper level ridge moves overhead and surface winds back to the south to southwest. While much of the day on Thursday will be dry, Pacific moisture advecting northeast ahead of the next disturbance during the evening and overnight hours will bring increasing chances for rain and/or snow along predominately the Continental Divide. Friday through next Monday...ensemble cluster begin to diverge at the end of the work week and through the weekend with respect to the evolution of longwave troughing moving over the Western CONUS and Canada, with a large degree of uncertainty arising in the position and/or timing of the trough and overall amplitude. This will ultimately affect how warm/cool temperatures are to the end of the work week and through the weekend, with the temperature spreads between 25th and 75th percentiles in the NBM ranging from 15 degrees on Friday, to 25 degrees on Saturday, to 18 degrees on Sunday at Great Falls. Additionally, these uncertainties will impact the placement and timing of precipitation, but an overall increase in precipitation chances can be expected across the Northern Rockies over this timeframe. - Moldan && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 36 56 33 52 / 10 20 40 10 CTB 36 52 29 50 / 0 10 20 0 HLN 36 56 34 56 / 10 40 30 10 BZN 28 54 30 53 / 10 60 30 0 WYS 20 43 19 47 / 0 60 30 0 DLN 30 52 29 55 / 10 30 0 0 HVR 35 59 32 53 / 0 20 40 0 LWT 29 49 29 45 / 0 40 30 20 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 6 PM MDT Tuesday for East Glacier Park Region-Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera- Northern High Plains-Southern High Plains-Southern Rocky Mountain Front. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Asos station KCTB Cut Bank Airport measured one gust of 58 mph.
Mesonet station MTBRN Two Medicine Bridge measured two gusts of 58 mph or greater, including a peak gust of 60 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2024
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: 1161957, 1161956.