Strong northwest winds gusted up to 64 mph in Petroleum County and brought blowing snow to the Little Rockies (Zortman area).
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The episode as NWS GGW wrote it up.
Strong northwest winds gusted up to 64 mph in Petroleum County and brought blowing snow to the Little Rockies (Zortman area).
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 13, 1:41 AM MST, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 241 AM MDT Sun Apr 13 2025 .DISCUSSION... KEY MESSAGES: * Storm system will be over northeast Montana today, bringing lots of rain in the northeast with a mix of snow in some areas and strong winds. * Strong winds with gusts to 60 mph are expected today from Zortman to Winnett. The higher elevations of the Little Rockies will have enough snow combined with the wind for a Blizzard Warning this morning into early afternoon. A High Wind Warning will be issued for today for Petroleum County. * Warm and dry conditions resume Monday/Tuesday with another upper trough bringing mainly rainshowers Wednesday/Thursday. WEATHER PATTERN OVERVIEW: Several ingredients will be coming together for a stormy day on today across northeast Montana. An upper trough moving through Montana this morning will be deepening a bit. A 700 mb low over northeast Montana will be vertically stacked and allowing a dry slot to move through the southern zones early this morning while the northeast zones have a steady rain that that will mix with snow at times along the Canadian border. As the system center moves to our east today, wrap- around winds and precipitation will drop southeast across the CWA. Some of this will be in the form of snow, accumulating heaviest in the Little Rocky Mountains and near the Opheim area in northern Valley county. Forecast amounts right now for Zortman is 4 to 5 inches with up to an inch for Highway 191. The problem is the snow will be accompanied with strong NW winds that will gust as high as 60 mph at times creating whiteout conditions. The wind and blowing snow combination will create blizzard conditions at times this morning especially at higher elevations. Will replace the Winter Weather Advisory with a blizzard warning for SW Phillips County. Warmer temperatures along the Canadian Border will allow most of the snow there to melt. Petroleum County will also have snow at times this morning but with warmer temperatures, it will be mixed with rain most of the time. High winds will be the primary hazard there so will upgrade High Wind Watch there with a High Wind Warning for today. Storm system pulls out Sunday Night with temperatures gradually warming into Tuesday. In fact Tuesday looks to be the warmest day of all seven with highs in the 60s and 70s. The next upper trough moves in for unsettled conditions starting Wednesday as an upper open positively tilted trough drops south with a closed low possibly forming west and southwest of us, which would take the heaviest precipitation closer to it's center. Cooler temperatures are also expected, but closer to normal. FORECAST CONFIDENCE & DEVIATIONS: High confidence in the strong NW winds today and the overall rain forecast with lower confidence in specific amounts. High confidence in the snow for the higher elevations of the Little Rockies but low confidence in snow amounts elsewhere in NE Montana today. Increased wind speeds somewhat today and adjusted the pop forecast for better hour to hour consistency than the NBM forecasted. No other changes to the base forecast. && .AVIATION... LAST UPDATED: 0830Z FLIGHT CAT RANGE: VFR - MVFR - IFR. DISCUSSION: Scattered rain showers will increase in coverage and intensity, with VFR ceilings lowering to IFR levels this morning. IFR ceilings are expected to show up around 15Z and mix with MVFR ceiling until this evening when clearing begins from west to east. Visibilities could get as low as IFR for places that transition to snow on the far back end of this event. But rain with limited reduction with mainly VFR Vis is expected for the bulk of the event with lowered ceiling being the main controlling factor. Rain and snow will exit the area around Midnight Monday morning. A small amount of freezing drizzle may be possible(10-30% chance) mid-morning Monday. SFC WIND: Variable wind early this morning will become NW between 12Z and 15Z and increasing to 15-30 knots with gusts to 25-40 knots by this afternoon. Wind should rapidly diminish to 10 to 20 knots this evening and 5 to 10 knots after midnight. && .GGW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Lake Wind Advisory until 10 PM MDT this evening for Central and Southeast Phillips-Central and Southern Valley-Garfield-McCone. High Wind Warning until 3 PM MDT this afternoon for Petroleum. Blizzard Warning from 6 AM this morning to 3 PM MDT this afternoon for Southwest Phillips. && weather.gov/glasgow
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
This occurred at the War Horse NWR (8N Teigen).
This occurred at the Winnett SW Hydromet.
Winds gusted to 59 mph at the mesonet station 10 NNW Cat Creek.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
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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: 1256788, 1256789, 1238252.