High Wind — Little Belt and Highwood Mountains, Montana

2025-12-17 · Little Belt and Highwood Mountains, Montana

Event narrative

A few sensors measured gusts in excess of 58 mph or sustained winds of 40 mph averaged over at last an hour, including RAWS station SFJM8 South Fork Judith, and mesonet station MTMON Monarch Canyon (MT DOT), and MTKIH Kings Hill Pass (MT DOT). The peak gust observed was 74 mph at South Fork Judith RAWS.

Wider weather episode

Robust low to mid level flow westerly flow associated with a potent shortwave and attendant cold fronts resulted in a prolonged period of high-end winds and gusts across the entire region Dec 17 into the 18th. Multiple gusts in excess of 90 mph were observed in populated areas, with a peak observed gust of 104 mph west of Bynum. Prolonged power outages were observed across the region, mostly due to trees being damaged/falling over completely. Additional societal impacts included extremely difficult to impossible travel conditions, which prompted a Civil Emergency Message for areas along the Rocky Mountain Front the afternoon of the 17th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1303484. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.