Wildfire — Southern Rocky Mountain Front, Montana

2022-09-07 to 2022-09-08 · Southern Rocky Mountain Front, Montana

Event narrative

Extreme critical fire weather concerns on top of a quickly moving cold front bringing strong wind gusts in excess of 50 mph accelerated a grass fire in Pondera County along Highway 91, three miles north of Conrad, named the Pondera County Fire. The fire was estimated to have burned 2186 acres, destroying a family of 5's homestead and causing road closures. A collective response by the DNRC, several fire departments, Hutterite colonies within the vicinity, and local farmers and ranchers aided in the firefighting efforts.

Wider weather episode

Strong upper-level ridging persisted and was the dominated weather feature for several days. Record breaking high temperatures, near single digit RH, and strong winds gusts have led to a Red Flag Warning throughout the 4 days. Numerous fires sparked as a result of incapsulated erratic gusty winds associated with isolated dry thunderstorms. The breakdown of the upper-level ridge, onset of strong winds aloft, and the isolated dry thunderstorms was the trifecta that led to an extreme critical fire weather event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1051374. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.