A strong, large and compact storm system stalled over the larger northeast Montana region. Widespread strong and gusty winds near and in excess of 60 mph were common.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 GGW wrote it up.
A strong, large and compact storm system stalled over the larger northeast Montana region. Widespread strong and gusty winds near and in excess of 60 mph were common.
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 22, 2:25 PM MST, 7 hours 5 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 325 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms through this evening hours. Erratic, gusty winds can be expected with a few of these storms potentially severe. - A strong cold front will bring much colder conditions beginning tonight. General rain Thursday morning will transition to snow for some and linger into Saturday. - High Wind Warning Thursday until 8pm across NE Montana for gusts to 60 mph. && .DISCUSSION... WEATHER PATTERN OVERVIEW: The next several days will be highly variable with strong swings in temperatures, winds, precipiation amounts, and precipitation types. The 500-mb height field is characterized by a strong ridge of high pressure through the eastern Rockies and High Plains regions through today. This is bringing near record high temperatures to many locations. Late this afternoon and evening, an approaching strong low pressure system from the Great Basin and the Northern and Central Rocky Mountain Regions will provide enough of an unstable atmosphere to allow rain showers and isolated thunderstorms to develop. Convective outlook from SPC has a marginal risk for severe thunderstorms, with the large temperature/dewpoint spread supporting strong wind gusts which are evident in HREF max wind gusts during this time span. The limiting factor may actually be too limited moisture which could limit convection in some locations in the south/east. As the system winds up and matures over our region, a strong cold front will sweep down from Saskatchewan generating rain Thursday (with wet snow at highest elevations such as Opheim). This prompted a Winter Weather Advisory for northern Valley county Thursday morning. A High Wind Warning was raised Thursday until 8pm across the area for occasional gusts to around 60mph being likely and pockets of 40mph sustained winds. An additional shortwave passing through Friday presents a chance for more widespread snow showers. Gusty winds continue through Friday's system as well. FORECAST CONFIDENCE & DEVIATIONS: Made a few deviations for increasing thunderstorm chances today and detail/strength of winds on Thursday. Confidence is moderate on the extent of severe wind gusts this evening and high for scattered wind gusts to 60 mph on Thursday. && .AVIATION... UPDATED: 2030Z FLIGHT CONDITION: VFR to IFR. DISCUSSION: Scattered rain showers and isolated thunderstorms are expected in the late afternoon and evening hours today. Light rain will become more steady (particularly at GGW) after midnight with MVFR to IFR ceilings by mid-morning Thursday. There is a slight chance that thunderstorms produce erratic severe gusty winds in the late afternoon and early evening hours near the terminals. Currently chances are too low to include in the TAFs directly. WIND: Veering toward the SW late this afternoon with gusts up to 25 kts. Veering farther to the W and NW after midnight and increasing to 20 to 30 kts gust 45 kts by Thursday morning. && .GGW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for Dawson/McCone/Prairie/Richland/Wibaux Counties-Fort Peck Reservation and Daniels/Roosevelt/Sheridan Counties-Northern Valley and Northern Phillips Counties-Southern Petroleum and Southern Garfield Counties-The Little Rockies-The Lower Missouri River Breaks including the Charles M Russell National Wildlife Refuge. High Wind Warning from midnight tonight to 8 PM MDT Thursday for Central and Southeast Phillips-Central and Southern Valley- Garfield-Northern Phillips-Northern Valley-Petroleum-Southwest Phillips. High Wind Warning from 6 AM to 8 PM MDT Thursday for Daniels- Dawson-Eastern Roosevelt-McCone-Prairie-Richland-Sheridan- Western Roosevelt-Wibaux. Winter Weather Advisory from 6 AM to 2 PM MDT Thursday for Northern Valley. && weather.gov/glasgow
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
836 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM Tstm Wnd Gst 1 N Navajo 48.81N 105.06W
04/22/2026 M60 MPH Daniels MT Mesonet
Navajo MT-5 16.7.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
844 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0835 PM Tstm Wnd Gst 2 ENE Plentywood 48.79N 104.52W
04/22/2026 M71 MPH Sheridan MT Mesonet
Sher-Wood Airport, MT.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
847 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM Tstm Wnd Gst 6 S Comertown 48.81N 104.25W
04/22/2026 M58 MPH Sheridan MT Mesonet
Comertown Turn-Off MT-5 MP 13.4.
&&Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
849 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
MTZ017>020-022>025-061-062-230345-
Richland MT-Garfield MT-Dawson MT-Sheridan MT-Northern Valley MT-
Daniels MT-Western Roosevelt MT-McCone MT-Eastern Roosevelt MT-
Central and Southern Valley MT-
849 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
...Strong thunderstorm outflow will impact portions of northeastern
Garfield, Daniels, Roosevelt, eastern Valley, Sheridan, northern
McCone, northeastern Dawson and Richland Counties through 945 PM MDT
...
At 847 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorm
outflows along a line extending from 8 miles northeast of Glasgow to
13 miles west of Fort Union Trading Post. Movement was north at 60
mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects.
Locations impacted include...
Sidney, Glasgow, Wolf Point, Plentywood, Scobey, Poplar, Culbertson,
Opheim, Richland, Fairview, Nashua, Brockton, Fort Peck, Medicine
Lake, Bainville, Froid, Westby, Flaxville, Savage, and Duck Creek Rec
Area.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
&&
LAT...LON 4740 10405 4747 10452 4753 10451 4753 10459
4762 10460 4762 10498 4770 10498 4770 10523
4779 10524 4779 10536 4765 10537 4787 10636
4795 10636 4798 10644 4789 10652 4795 10680
4900 10670 4900 10405
TIME...MOT...LOC 0247Z 177DEG 98KT 4826 10648 4793 10432
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN
MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH
GAHPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
909 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 PM Tstm Wnd Gst 6 NW Scobey 48.86N 105.50W
04/22/2026 M58 MPH Daniels MT Mesonet
Scobey NW.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
911 PM MDT Wed Apr 22 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0858 PM Tstm Wnd Gst 2 SE Medicine Lake 48.49N 104.48W
04/22/2026 M66 MPH Sheridan MT Mesonet
MEDICINE LAKE, MT.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Content Montana Climate Office mesonet site (TNTM8) recorded a wind gust of 72 mph.
The Wolf Point, Clayton Airport ASOS site (KOLF) recorded a wind gust of 74 mph.
The King Coulee RAWS site (KIGM8) recorded a wind gust of 61 mph.
The Zortman BLM RAWS site (ALDM8) recorded a wind gust of 66 mph.
The Malta South US-191 DOT site (MYMAL) recorded a wind gust of 62 mph.
The St Marie MT-24 DOT site (MTSTM) recorded a wind gust of 68 mph.
The Scobey NW Montana Climate Office mesonet site (SCYM8) recorded a wind gust of 58 mph.
The Fort Peck Dam handar site (GGWFP) recorded sustained winds of 47 mph for a period of 3 hours.
The Scobey NW Montana Climate Office mesonet site (SCYM8) recorded sustained winds of 45 mph for about 3 hours.
The Jordan Airport AWOS site (KJDN) measured wind gust of 64 mph.
The Wolf Point, Clayton Airport ASOS site (KOLF) recorded a wind gust of 58 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2026
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: 1320722, 1320719, 1320732, 1320729, 1320731, 1320728, 1320733, 1320735, 1320736, 1320730, 1320734.