High Wind — Red Lodge Foothills, Montana

2021-11-15 to 2021-11-16 · Red Lodge Foothills, Montana

Event narrative

Winds gusted 60 to 80+ mph. Key Impacts: Damage in downtown Red Lodge from dumpsters being blown and awnings breaking, as well as broken windows. A mobile home was blown over south of town. In addition, several small fires occurred due to downed power lines.

Wider weather episode

A period of very strong winds occurred for several days across the Billings Forecast Area. The strongest winds with accompanied damage occurred during the late evening of the 15th through the early afternoon hours on the 16th. A very strong jet stream overhead, along with rapid pressure rises behind a cold front, resulted in very strong, damaging winds. In addition, a mountain wave formed overnight over the Beartooth Mountains. This caused the strong jet stream winds aloft to be brought to the surface in an accelerated motion on the eastern side of the mountains. Red Lodge, MT was hit the hardest with wind gusts to 81 mph.

A wildfire occurred during the wind storm, most likely due to downed power lines. The Rosebud Fire began at roughly 11:30pm on November 15th in the West Rosebud area. Evacuations for several areas were issued around 2am on November 16th, forcing dozens of people from their homes.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 987415. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.