A tight pressure gradient between large air masses funneled strong and severe winds through the region.
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 tight pressure gradient between large air masses funneled strong and severe winds through the region.
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 Mar 7, 11:35 PM MST, 10 hours 5 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 1135 PM MST Sat Mar 7 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Gusty chinook winds expected today, with west to northwest wind gusts as high as 60 mph over the Little Rockies. - The next cold front will drift through the area tonight with rain/snow chances and rapidly falling temperatures. A Winter Weather Advisory for 1-3 inches is in place over the Little Rockies. - Another chinook with strong winds followed by a cold front is Expected Wednesday night into Thursday. && .DISCUSSION... WEATHER PATTERN OVERVIEW: Synoptic Setup: Forecast begins with a weak ridge over the northern Plains and southern Canadian Prairie Provinces embedded in otherwise zonal flow. The nose of this ridge has dipped off the front range to generate a Chinook down the Plains through today which is butting up against a cold frontal boundary at the International Border. Today: Strong gusty winds will be in charge for today with higher than normal temps courtesy of downsloping from the chinook. The front itself has already moved a little south of the international border and is providing a light inversion this morning in the far northeast which could lead to low level wind shear before sun-up when the inversion will be eaten away and wind shear disappears. Tonight: As the chinook shuts off the cold front will advance south generating an area of lift just north of it which will begin wringing out rain transitioning to snow especially across the far west. Snow totals going into Monday Morning will reach upward and possible above 2 inches over the Little Rockies due to some upslope. Therefore a Winter Weather Advisory for snow was issued. Monday through Wednesday: Cooler pacific airmass will press into the region for a cold start to Monday but should slowly warm/modify by Wednesday. Isolated chances for rain or snow are possible Tuesday afternoon and evening. Wednesday night into Thursday: Another Chinook overnight followed by a cold front That afternoon is looking likely and a quick ridge/trough couplet moves through the region. Strong winds are already building themselves into the forecast and a persistent monitoring for possible High Winds is taking place over these time periods. Friday onward: Post cold front it looks like a more Arctic airmass moves in rather than Pacific airmass. This will drop temps closer to normal for the area through the weekend. FORECAST CONFIDENCE & DEVIATIONS: Deviations from NBM were focused on the first 30 hours with hourly PoPs being redone in a 33/33/33 blend of NPoP SREF, NPoP Consshort, NBM PPI01 to increase hourly totals. At the same time, WPC QPF was used over these same areas to show a more spread out gradient as well. Confidence is HIGH in high winds across the Little Rockies today. Confidence is MODERATE to HIGH for placement and totals for snow tonight. Confidence is HIGH for another ridge/trough couplet to cause a chinook followed by a cold front mid to late work week. Though confidence is MODERATE to LOW in the exact timing. GAH && .AVIATION... LAST UPDATE: 0600Z FLIGHT CAT RANGE: VFR - MVFR DISCUSSION: A chinook will bring higher than average wind speeds through the cycle. Cloud heights and ceilings will begin dropping later this afternoon with isolated rain and then snow showers impacting the terminals around 00-02Z. This may reduce visibility briefly but currently is not expected to drop below MVFR. All snow should clear from the terminals by Monday evening if not earlier. LLWS: Low level wind shear returns tonight from 02-16Z IF an inversion is able to set up at any given location. However, confidence in this is moderate, highest for KSDY and KOLF. WIND: West at 10-15 gust 25 kts tonight. Slowly veering NW and increasing to 20-25 gust 35 kts after sunrise through Sunday afternoon. Further veering N and decreasing to 10 kts or less by midnight. GAH && .GGW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 9 PM MST Sunday for Southwest Phillips. Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM Sunday to 6 AM MST Monday for Southwest Phillips. && weather.gov/glasgow
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Glasgow MT
706 AM MDT Sun Mar 8 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0400 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 11 ENE Zortman 47.96N 108.31W
03/08/2026 M63 MPH Phillips MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTMAL 11.3 SW Phillips (MT
DOT).
0332 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 ESE Zortman 47.91N 108.50W
03/08/2026 M59 MPH Phillips MT Mesonet
Mesonet station ALDM8 Zortman 1E.
0530 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 10 ESE Zortman 47.89N 108.32W
03/08/2026 M59 MPH Phillips MT Mesonet
Mesonet station MTM38 Blm Zortman E.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple observations in southwest Phillips County recorded wind gusts in excess of 65 mph, the strongest of which was 80 mph, measured at the Malta South US-191 DOT site (MTMAL).
Multiple observations in Petroleum County recorded wind gusts in excess of 57 mph, the strongest of which was 65 mph, measured at the War Horse NW Montana Climate Office mesonet site (WRHM8).
Multiple observations in central and southeast Phillips County recorded wind gusts in excess of 64 mph, the strongest of which was 67 mph, measured at the Saco US-2 DOT site (MTSCO).
Multiple observations in central and southern Valley County recorded wind gusts in excess of 59 mph, the strongest of which was 75 mph, measured at the Glasgow Airport ASOS site (KGGW).
A few observations in McCone County recorded wind gusts in excess of 63 mph, the strongest of which was 67 mph, measured at the Fort Peck Dam handar site (GGWFP).
A few observations in northern Valley County recorded wind gusts in excess of 58 mph, the strongest of which was 64 mph, measured at the Bluff Creek RAWS site (BLUM8).
A few observations in western Roosevelt County recorded wind gusts in excess of 57 mph, the strongest of which was 60 mph, measured at the Bredette NE Montana Climate Office mesont site (BDEM8).
The Loring SW Montana Climate Office mesonet site (LORM8) measured a 67 mph wind gust.
The Scobey NW Montana Climate Office mesonet site (SCYM8) measured a 63 mph wind gust.
The Medicine Lake W Montana Climate Office mesonet site (MEDM8) measured a 60 mph wind gust.
A few observations in Garfield County recorded wind gusts in excess of 62 mph, the strongest of which was 69 mph, measured at the South Sawmill Creek RAWS site (SSMM8).
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: 1310225, 1310227, 1311102, 1311101, 1311098, 1310230, 1310224, 1311097, 1311100, 1310226, 1311099.