Thunderstorm Wind — Lake, Montana

2013-03-20 · near Polson, Lake, Montana

Event narrative

A 72 foot, 26 inch diameter Douglas Fir fell down from very strong thunderstorm winds and crashed onto owners' house. Soil moisture was relatively dry, but as seen in photo much of the branches on the trunk except at the top had already been cut off before this event. A forester examined the tree and found that its roots had been cut on the west side of the tree before the event.

Wider weather episode

A fast moving north-south oriented cold front with embedded showers and thunderstorms moved west to east at approximately 45 mph across western Montana.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.6834, -114.1634)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 433593. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.