Strong winds aloft moved into the North-Central MT plains on the 15th. A cold frontal passage helped bring these stronger winds down to the surface, resulting in isolated high winds across Central MT and the Hi-line.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
Strong winds aloft moved into the North-Central MT plains on the 15th. A cold frontal passage helped bring these stronger winds down to the surface, resulting in isolated high winds across Central MT and the Hi-line.
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 Jan 15, 9:25 AM MST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Montana mesonet site Judith Gap had an average sustained wind speed of 41 mph from 10:55 to 11:55 A.M MST. Mesonet site Eddies Corner MTEDD measured a 59 mph wind gust.
Montana mesonet site Mt Lebanon SE measured a 68 mph wind gust. Mesonet site GW3546 Whitlash also measured a 40 mph average sustained wind over the span of an hour.
Montana Mesonet site Turner N measured an average sustained wind of 41 mph from 6:15 P.M. until 10:00 P.M. MST. Mesonet site Hogeland HOGM8 also measured a high wind gust.
Montana mesonet site Coffee Creek N measured a 65 mph wind gust. Montana mesonet site Forestgrove, MTBCH Beacon Hill, and AWOS station KMVH N Bar Ranch also measured a high wind gust.
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, January 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1306340, 1304963, 1305580, 1306342.