High Wind — Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera, Montana

2025-02-22 to 2025-02-23 · Eastern Glacier, Western Toole, and Central Pondera, Montana

Event narrative

Many sensors measured high wind criteria winds/gusts, including ASOS sensor KCTB Cut Bank Airport, which measured a 67 mph gust in addition to high sustained winds.

Wider weather episode

A long cold spell for the plains was finally broken as surface troughing in lee of the Rocky Mountain Front developed Feb 19. Initially it was thought that this troughing, combined with increased zonal flow aloft would result in ground blizzard conditions along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front and adjacent plains Feb 20-22. This did not end up panning out, as winds were not strong enough to break the crust in a meaningful way. Nonetheless, zonal flow aloft continued to increase, which eventually resulted in high winds Feb 22-24, mostly near the Rocky Mountain Front in typically windy areas. Additional strong gusts developed elsewhere, but were much more isolated over this timeframe.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1245063. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.