An upper-level trough brought increasing winds aloft to the region. An accompanying cold front helped mix these winds down to the surface across the Hi-line and Southwest Montana.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 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.
An upper-level trough brought increasing winds aloft to the region. An accompanying cold front helped mix these winds down to the surface across the Hi-line and Southwest Montana.
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 24, 10:25 PM MST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Great Falls MT 1125 PM MDT Tue Mar 24 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Dry, warm, and windy conditions set up tomorrow, bringing elevated to critical fire weather conditions. - A Pacific system will continue mountain snow/rain and isolated light lower elevation rain through Thursday. - Gusty winds will develop along the Hi-line and Southwest MT Wednesday. - Dry and warm weather is on tap for the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... - Meteorological Overview: Weak troughing moving inland from the Western U.S coast will continue to advect in Pacific moisture to the region. With this trough arrives better better winds aloft to the region, particular to the Rocky Mountain Front and Hi-line Wednesday morning. This stronger jet lasts into the afternoon, where daytime mixing along with a cold front will help mix these stronger winds down to the surface. Across Southwest MT, a strong pressure gradient developing throughout the day Wednesday will result in stronger winds. Strong winds decreases diurnally in the evening. The combination of the warm, dry, and windy conditions will create elevated to critical fire weather conditions, especially in Southwest MT. The core of upper-level shortwave arrives late Wednesday into Thursday, which will bring slight chances for light rain/snow. A cold front passage will bring a brief relief in warmer temperatures Thursday. Upper-level ridging builds back into the weekend, resulting in warmer and drier condtions to move back in. Ensembles are hinting a bit of a pattern change next week, bringing in cooler temperatures and more moisture for lower elevations. - Forecast Confidence & Scenarios: Winds Wednesday: The area with highest confidence in getting high winds is the Cut Bank to Sweet Grass Hills area, where the 700mb jet peaks at ~75kts Wednesday morning. Farther east along the Hi-line, the 700mb jet is slightly less, but a 60-70kt jet will try to mix down isolated gusts of 60 mph during the day. The high winds are more marginal in Southwest MT. However, the combination of the cold front passage and pressure gradient front will try to mix down a few isolated 60 mph wind gusts as well. Therefore, no changes were made to the current High Wind Warnings. Mountain Snow Wednesday Evening Through Thursday: With the cold front passage Wednesday, snow levels will drop back down to pass level Wednesday night and Thursday. Warm road temperatures will make snow struggle to accumulate initially. This combined with light moisture amounts will keep snow accumulations on passes light (up to 1-2"). -Wilson && .AVIATION... 25/12Z TAF Period. Light rain will affect the Rocky Mountain Front, and the northeastern portions of North Central MT overnight. Expect gusty winds to develop on Wed morning over portions of North Central and Southwest MT. Some blowing dust could also be an impact, reducing visibility at times. More widespread light rain/snow to affect Central and Southwest MT after 00z Thu. Mountains/passes will be obscured at times across the CWA through the period. Brusda && .FIRE WEATHER... Warm, dry, and breezy to windy conditions are expected area wide Wednesday, with the strongest winds likely to be found along the US 2 Corridor and a second maxima across Southwestern Montana. Southwestern Montana will see RH values dipping into the upper teens as temperatures climb into the mid to upper 60s. Critical fire weather conditions are expected to develop across Southwest MT Wednesday afternoon, which will create rapid growth in any new wildfire starts. Winds will weaken after sunset, but a cold front will push through the area from the north during the evening and overnight hours, bringing a wind shift to the north. Some light precipitation is expected, mainly over the higher terrain with this frontal passage, but is not expected to produce much moisture on the fine fuels across the plains. The cold front will also bring in cooler temperatures Thursday, which will bring some relief to the elevated fire weather risk. Ludwig/Wilson && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GTF 48 61 29 45 / 20 10 10 10 CTB 41 52 17 38 / 30 0 20 10 HLN 44 62 29 46 / 30 40 30 0 BZN 44 70 30 49 / 30 10 50 20 WYS 36 60 29 47 / 10 20 30 20 DLN 43 67 32 49 / 20 10 20 0 HVR 41 62 22 38 / 40 10 10 20 LWT 45 62 28 41 / 30 30 50 20 && .TFX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from 3 AM to 6 PM MDT Wednesday for Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera-Eastern Toole and Liberty. High Wind Warning from 9 AM to 7 PM MDT Wednesday for Beaverhead and Western Madison below 6000ft-Big Belt, Bridger and Castle Mountains-Gallatin Valley-Gallatin and Madison County Mountains and Centennial Mountains-Hill County-Madison River Valley- Missouri Headwaters-Northern Blaine County-Ruby Mountains and Southern Beaverhead Mountains. Red Flag Warning from noon to 7 PM MDT Wednesday for Helena and Townsend Ranger Districts of the Helena National Forest. && http://www.weather.gov/greatfalls
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
921 PM MDT Tue Mar 24 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0421 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 8 SE East Glacier Park 48.36N 113.11W
03/24/2026 M71 MPH Glacier MT Mesonet
Mesonet station DCRM8 Deep Creek RAWS.
0445 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 20 SW Bynum 47.77N 112.60W
03/24/2026 M62 MPH Teton MT Mesonet
Mesonet station SALMT Salmond Ranch.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station LGPVC Logan Pass (GNP) measured a 78 mph wind gust.
AWOS station Shelby Airport KSBX measured a 58 mph wind gust and averaged a sustained wind of 40 mph between 10:55am to 11:55am MST. Mesonet station GW1987 Ethridge Three SE, ASOS station KCTB Cut Bank Airport, and Montana mesonet station Mission Lake S also measured a high wind gust.
Mesonet station GW1986 Lothair 9N measured a 62 mph wind gust and averaged a sustained wind of 42 mph from 11:25am to 12:25am MST. A few other mesonet stations also measured high wind gusts.
Mesonet station MTM51 9.1 N Gildford measured a 59 mph wind gust. ASOS station KHVR Havre Airport also measured a high wind gust. Montana mesonet station Inverness N averaged a high sustained wind of 40 mph between 10:15am to 11:15am MST.
Mesonet station MTM73 Ledger N measured a 60 mph wind gust.
Montana mesonet station Hogeland SW measured sustained winds averaging 41 mph between 11:35am and 12:35pm MST. Mesonet station MTM52 7.1 SE Hogeland also measured a high wind gust.
Mesonet station MTBZH Bozeman Pass measured a 62 mph wind gust.
ASOS station KDLN Dillon Airport measured a 59 mph 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, March 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: 1322756, 1322760, 1322767, 1322770, 1322775, 1322774, 1322776, 1322777.