High Wind — Eastern Pondera and Eastern Teton, Montana

2025-12-17 · Eastern Pondera and Eastern Teton, Montana

Event narrative

Quite a few sensors measured gusts of 58 mph or greater or sustained winds of 40 mph or greater averaged over at least an hour. These sensors include mesonet station MTM54 SW Power, MTTRV Teton River (MT DOT), AWOS stations K1HM Hotel and K1JM Juliett, mesonet station DAHMT Dahlman, and Montana mesonet stations Brady NE and Midway Colony. The peak gust was 78 mph and was observed at the Midway Colony.

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 1306417. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.