Drought conditions intensified for most of Daniels county through late May.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
Drought conditions intensified for most of Daniels county through late May.
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 May 18, 9:52 PM MST, 2 hours 8 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Glasgow MT 1052 PM MDT Mon May 18 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - This morning will be cold across northeast Montana, with chances for near record lows if clouds clear out overnight. - Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning looks like the next chance for showers and perhaps and few thunderstorms. Most areas that would be hit look to have less than a tenth of an inch. - Warm weather returns briefly Wednesday with 70s & 80s for highs expected Friday onward. && .DISCUSSION... WEATHER PATTERN OVERVIEW: Forecast begins with a large cold airmass over the Hudson Bay. a trough runs west out of it and down through southern Canadian Prairie Provinces and eastern Montana, and terminates over northern Utah. An equally amplified ridge runs from northern California the PCNW, Alberta, and terminates over the Northwest Territories. This morning through tonight: Conditions will start off cool with a ground freeze initially as clear skies hover over the area. By the late afternoon a new round of mid to upper chinook arch clouds will move in from the west along with slightly warmer temps under the highly amplified ridge. Wednesday into Thursday Morning: Ridge will exit the area as a shortwave begins to drive itself down in northwestern flow. as the ridge breaks down a low pressure surface trough will form over central Montana mid day. by the late afternoon and early evening hours this will move into eastern montana along a cold front with rain showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms. Most storms should exit overnight with the heat leaving rain showers to linger into Thursday morning. QPF totals are in flux currently unknown but generally a tenth of an inch or less is expected for this passage. Thursday afternoon into the weekend: Conditions will clear and warm through these time periods with maybe a weak shower possible Saturday night with ensemble breakdown occuring about this point forward making confidence from Saturday onward LOW. FORECAST CONFIDENCE & DEVIATIONS: Changes to NBM were focused to hourly PoPs around Wednesday mid- day to the evening. Hourly NBM data was being direct interpolated in the last 5 hours. Used and NPoP blend of available CAMs to try to quick blend in a slightly better trend. GAH && .AVIATION... LAST UPDATED: 0330Z FLIGHT CAT RANGE: VFR. DISCUSSION: Overcast conditions across the east this evening are expected to exit the area by the early morning hours. A few isolated fog pockets may be possible northeast of KOLF and KSDY as clouds clear but should not impact the main terminals directly tonight. Sun-up conditions should be SKC but mid to high clouds will begin approaching the area from the west late Tuesday afternoon early evening. WIND: Light and variable tonight. Becoming S to SW after sun-up and increasing to 5 to 15 kts through Tuesday. Backing S to SE Tuesday evening. GAH && .GGW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && weather.gov/glasgow
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
D2 drought conditions encroached into the northeastern corner of Daniels County by the third week of May and continued through the end of the month.
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, May 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: 1341268.