Thunderstorm Wind — Pondera, Montana

2024-08-23 · near Valier, Pondera, Montana

Event narrative

A personal weather station measured a severe gust.

Wider weather episode

An anomalously strong upper level trough was set up just off the west coast, which resulted in a strong belt of mid level southerly flow across Southwest through North-central Montana. Synoptic winds were already breezy from the south, allowing thunderstorms to easily produce strong wind gusts given inverted-V soundings. Wind gusts in excess of 80 mph were observed on this day as a line of gusty outflow spread northward over the plains.

A High Wind Warning was also issued for Southwest Montana this day, though no strong synoptic gusts were observed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (48.2500, -112.3000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1200672. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.