High Wind — West Glacier Region, Montana
2025-12-17 · West Glacier Region, Montana
Event narrative
Glacier National Park reported that at least 50 trees fell down along the Going-To-The-Sun Road, Camas Road and bike paths. Multiple trees were reported down 10 miles northwest of Essex, laying against power lines and several had blocked U.S. Highway 2 at Milepost 171. Trees were also blown down on Big Mountain Road leading up to the ski resort. Flathead Electrical COOP reported that over 30,000 members were without power by mid-day of the 17th. They restored most of the power by Christmas Eve.
Wider weather episode
On Dec. 17, 2025, a historic high wind event driven by a strong cold front undercutting an atmospheric river brought hurricane-force winds to the region, creating a disaster of a magnitude rarely seen in our December climate record across all counties of western Montana. Saturated soils combined with recent record warm temperatures weakened root structures and topsoil, substantially exacerbating treefall. Governor Gianforte issued an executive order declaring a wind disaster, and multiple counties enacted local emergency declarations. The American Red Cross opened an emergency shelter in Superior in Mineral County, and the Butte Civic Center supported residents without power. While impactful December winds have occurred previously'such as the Dec. 4, 1995 Lolo National Forest blowdown that felled over 7 million board feet of timber and a Dec. 15, 2006 event with 65 mph gusts'this storm significantly eclipsed those precedents, delivering frequent gusts between 60 and 90 mph in valleys and over 100 mph in the mountains for multiple hours, particularly between 0800MST and 1200MST Dec. 17. Sandwiched between two other lesser wind events, this system caused widespread damage, blocking roads, hiking, and cross-country ski trails with widespread treefall, and crushing vehicles and structures'including a home near Polson where a resident narrowly escaped with bruises as a tree destroyed their home. Utility infrastructure sustained severe damage; Flathead Electric Cooperative described it as one of the most challenging events in their 88-year history. This extent of damage forced utilities to request outside mutual aid last week to assist with repairs. Power outages persisted for over a week in some locations. The event prompted preemptive school closures based on National Weather Service Missoula messaging and emergency travel alerts. Extended outages led to significant household and grocery store food loss. Northwest Montana, previously impacted by historical flooding, was impeded by wind damage to communications infrastructure which hampered emergency services.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1306311. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.