Cut Bank, Montana

... Winter Weather Advisory in effect from noon Thursday to
midnight MST Thursday night...

The National Weather Service in Great Falls has issued a Winter
Weather Advisory for snow and blowing snow... which is in effect
from noon Thursday to midnight MST Thursday night.

The next storm system will move southward into the region on
Thursday afternoon. Expect colder air to move into the region as
well with this storm... along with wind chill values falling below
zero. New snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches can be expected from
Thursday afternoon through Thursday evening. Additionally... north
winds gusting to near 30 mph at times will cause areas of blowing
snow and reduced visibilities.

A Winter Weather Advisory for snow and blowing snow means that
visibilities will be limited due to a combination of falling and
blowing snow. Use caution when traveling... especially in open
areas.

For specific Road and travel conditions in Montana... dial 5 1 1.

... High Wind Warning now in effect until noon MST Thursday...

The High Wind Warning is now in effect until noon MST Thursday.

Expect west to southwest winds of 35 to 45 mph... with gusts to
70 mph. Expect wind speeds to gradually diminish on Thursday
morning.

Wind gusts over 70 mph have occurred along the Front Range of The
Rockies on Wednesday morning... while wind gusts just around 55 mph
have been recorded in the Cut Bank area on Wednesday afternoon.

A High Wind Warning means a hazardous high wind event is expected
or occurring. Sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph or gusts
of 58 mph or more can lead to property damage.

01/07/2009 1200 PM

Heart Butte, Pondera County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m60.00 mph, reported by mesonet.


            60 mph peak wind gust in Heart Butte.




01/07/2009 0338 PM

32 miles N of Shelby, Toole County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m46.00 mph, reported by dept of highways.


            46 mph peak wind gust at the DOT sensor just south of
            Sweet Grass.




01/07/2009 1200 PM

Heart Butte, Pondera County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m60.00 mph, reported by mesonet.


            60 mph peak wind gust in Heart Butte.




01/07/2009 0338 PM

32 miles N of Shelby, Toole County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m46.00 mph, reported by dept of highways.


            46 mph peak wind gust at the DOT sensor just south of
            Sweet Grass.




01/07/2009 1200 PM

Heart Butte, Pondera County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m60.00 mph, reported by mesonet.


            60 mph peak wind gust in Heart Butte.




01/07/2009 0338 PM

32 miles N of Shelby, Toole County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m46.00 mph, reported by dept of highways.


            46 mph peak wind gust at the DOT sensor just south of
            Sweet Grass.

This data is preliminary until certified by National climatic data center.
... 2008 weather summary for north central and southwest Montana...

Average temperature / departure from normal
Great Falls... .44.1 / +0.3... 27th coolest year of record.
Havre... ... ... .42.2 / -0.9... 52nd coolest year of record.
Helena... ... ... 45.6 / +1.5... 23rd warmest year of record.
Bozeman... ... ..44.2 / +2.0... 3rd warmest year of record.
Cut Bank... ... .41.5 / +0.3... 41st warmest year of record.
Dillon... ... ... 42.1 / -2.1... 20th coolest year of record.
Lewistown... ... 41.7 / -0.9... 32nd coolest year of record.

Highest / lowest temperatures
Great Falls... . 98 on 08/18 / -23 on 12/14
Havre... ... ... . 99 on 08/07 / -33 on 12/14
Helena... ... ... 99 on 08/18 and 6/30 / -18 on 01/21
Bozeman... ... ..102 on 08/25 and 7/04 / -30 on 01/22
Cut Bank... ... . 95 on 08/18 / -27 on 12/16
Dillon... ... ... 96 on 07/04 / -27 on 12/15
Lewistown... ... 99 on 08/25 / -29 on 12/14

Precipitation / departure from normal / most in 24 hours
Great Falls... .17.16 / +2.27 / 1.28 on 06/11
Havre... ... ... .11.91 / +0.45 / 0.99 on 06/04-05
Helena... ... ... 9.29 / -2.03 / 1.05 on 05/22-23
Bozeman... ... ..12.43 / -2.28 / 0.91 on 05/24
Cut Bank... ... .12.79 / +0.28 / 1.66 on 05/22-23
Dillon... ... ... 7.44 / -2.51 / 1.35 on 07/22
Lewistown... ... 16.46 / -1.39 / 1.54 on 05/21-22

Snowfall / departure from normal / most in 24 hours / Max snow on grd
Great Falls... 95.5 /+34.6 / 9.6 on 04/19 / 11 inches on 04/20
Havre... ... ... 34.8 /-10.6 / 4.0 on 12/13 / 10 inches in 12/28
Helena... ... ..44.8 / +1.5 / 4.1 on 04/19 / 5 inches on 12/26-28
Cut Bank... ... / 5 inches on 02/13..02/09
                                                             12/23
Dillon... ... .. / 5 inches on 01/21-22
Lewistown... .. / 10 inches on 12/26

average wind / departure from normal / peak wind /mph/
Great Falls... .11.5 mph / -1.4 / 59 mph on 03/24
Havre... ... ... . 9.3 mph / +0.1 / 67 mph on 07/04
Helena... ... ... 6.9 mph / -0.5 / 62 mph on 12/31
Bozeman... ... .. 5.5 mph / -0.6 / 58 mph on 07/22
Cut Bank... ... .12.5 mph / -0.2 / 83 mph on 10/07
Dillon... ... ... 9.1 mph / -0.1 / 72 mph on 07/22
Lewistown... ... 9.5 mph / -0.2 / 61 mph on 03/24

Last Spring frost / first fall frost
                       average average
Great Falls... .06/11 05/13 / 10/08 09/25
Havre... ... ... .05/10 05/13 / 09/24 09/20
Helena... ... ... 05/10 05/15 / 10/08 09/22
Bozeman... ... ..06/11 06/02 / 09/14 09/11
Cut Bank... ... .05/13 05/26 / 09/02 09/12
Dillon... ... ... 05/13 06/03 / 09/02 09/12
Lewistown... ... 06/11 05/29 / 09/08 09/11

Days of maximum temperature 90f or higher / 32f or lower
                    average average
Great Falls... . 18 18 / 40 45
Havre... ... ... . 23 25 / 40 58
Helena... ... ... 28 19 / 37 47
Bozeman... ... .. 32 18 / 36 51
Cut Bank... ... . 7 7 / 54 55
Dillon... ... ... 11 10 / 45 42
Lewistown... ... 10 10 / 45 49

Days with minimum temperature 32f or lower / 0f or lower
                     average average
Great Falls... . 182 162 / 24 24
Havre... ... ... . 205 178 / 38 35
Helena... ... ... 165 181 / 20 22
Bozeman... ... .. 189 198 / 21 30
Cut Bank... ... . 188 186 / 25 31
Dillon... ... ... 197 196 / 19 19
Lewistown... ... 200 182 / 25 26

Milestones reached during 2008...
Bozeman...
March... 9th driest March of record... 0.52 inches.
April... 4th calmest April of record... average of 6.4 mph.
May... calmest may of record.
June... 4th calmest June of record.
July... 4th calmest July of record.
August... 5th calmest August of record.
September... calmest September of record.
         9th driest September of record... 0.35 inches.
October... 7th driest October of record... 0.33 inches.
November... 3rd warmest November of record... average 38.9f.
2008... 3rd calmest year of record.

Cut Bank...
January... driest January of record.
May... 3rd wettest may of record.
September... 3rd calmest September of record.
November... 8th warmest November of record... average of 37.8f.

Dillon...
April... 6th coolest April of record... average of 36.8f...
        5.4 degrees below normal.
        9th driest April of record... 0.37 inches.
June... 6th driest June of record... 0.39 inches.
July... 7th calmest July of record.
August... 6th driest August of record... 0.13 inches.
September... 3rd calmest September of record.
November... 6th warmest November of record... average of 37.2f...
        6.5 degrees above normal.
2008... 9th driest year of record.

Great Falls...
July... 8th calmest July of record.
September... 2nd calmest September of record.
December... snowiest December of record.
6th snowiest year of record... 95.5 inches.

Havre...
April... 3rd driest water-year-to-date. Only 1.69 inches of
      precipitation had fallen since October 2007.
October... 5th driest October of record... 0.03 inches.
November... 5th wettest November of record... 1.28 inches.


Helena...
March... 7th driest March of record... 0.12 inches.
September... calmest September of record.
November... 3rd warmest November of record... average of 40.4f...
        9.5 degrees above normal.
December... snowiest December since 1977.

Lewistown...
March... 4th driest March of record... 0.24 inches.
        Highest March gust of record... gusted to 61 mph.
January-April... 2nd driest period of record. Only 1.55 inches of
precipitation has fallen.
July... 6th driest July of record... 0.30 inches.
September... 4th calmest September of record.
December... 10th coolest December of record... average of 15.2f...
        8.2 degrees below normal.

                         New record
            temperature daily wind daily
            highs lows high avg low avg gust precip
Bozeman 10 3 9 18 26 2
Cut Bank 5 0 3 8 8 2
Dillon 6 2 5 5 41 3
Great Falls 1 4 1 3 1 6
Havre 4 3 6 9 20 2
Helena 8 1 3 21 16 2
Lewistown 2 1 2 2 22 2


2008 was a reversal of recent years. At many
locations... temperatures averaged slightly below normal. There were
exceptions... however. Precipitation was widely variable. Great Falls
was over two inches above normal... with Dillon ending 2.5 inches
below normal. It was a snowy year. Great Falls had their 6th
snowiest year of recrod. In April over 20 inches fell... in June 6.8
inches fell and in December... over 30 inches fell. The following is
a summary of significant weather events and patterns during the
year...

A strong La Nina pattern influenced the winter across the area. In
January... the first half of the month was warm and windy... while the
second half was cold. Overall... temperatures averaged close to
normal. Heavy snow fell over some the higher mountains with some
areas in the southwest reporting nearly 140 inches on the ground at
the end of the month. A few record high temperatures were set during
the windy... first half of the month. During this warm
period... Valentine reached 60 on the 14th... for the warmest of the
month. The last half of the month brought colder and stormy
conditions. The coldest temperature of the month occurred on the
22nd at Whiskey Creek snotel... dropping to -43f. As a storm passed
through central Montana... blizzard conditions caused Road closures
in central Montana. A warmup by the 26th brought another record warm
day to Bozeman... when they peaked at 50f. While this was going
on... winds gusted to 83 mph at Babb... then cold air returned for the
end of the month. Gold Butte dropped to -37f on the 29th. Roller
coaster temperatures brought another warm-up by the end of the
month. The late month storminess produced the wettest and snowiest
January at Great Falls since 1993. Further northeast... at
Havre... precipitation largely missed this area... and by the end of
January... they had experienced their 3rd driest water-year-to-date.

February brought a variety of weather across the area. With La Nina
still strongly in place... temperatures averaged below normal across
the eastern portions of the area. Precipitation was widely variable.
Much of the area was below normal... with snowpack in the highest
mountains of the southwest still in the 120 to 130 inch range. The
month started out on the mild side in most areas. Cold temperatures
were seen along the Canadian border with Rudyard 21n reporting -21f
on the 2nd. By the 6th... windy and warm conditions prevailed. Winds
peaked at 81 mph near east Glacier on the 5th and Choteau reported 75
mph gusts on the 6th. The winds were accompanied by another storm
system and snow on the 7th. This heavy snow with winds closed roads
from Marias Pass to east Glacier. Up to 10 inches of snow were
accompanied by 60 mph winds. Blizzard conditions again visited
central Montana on the 13th. With snow... Valentine recorded gusts to
61 mph... with 66 mph gusts at Judith Gap. The warmest temperature of
the month did not occur until the 29th... when 62f was recorded at
Loma. The winds were the big story during the month. Bozeman had
their highest February gust since 1952... with gusts to 55 mph. Dillon
had their highest February gust since 1982. Winds gusted to 56 mph on
the 7th.

March 2008 was not a typical March. The month went almost entirely
dry... until the last couple of days. Temperatures averaged mostly
below normal. In the southwest... temperatures were as much as 5f below
normal. Turner averaged nearly 2f above normal. A series of storms
passing during the month did bring spotty precipitation. Windy
conditions accompanied the storms. On the 3rd... gusts to 79 mph were
recorded at east Glacier. A foot of snow fell from this storm at
hebgen dam on the 4th... with 54 inches of snow on the ground.
Relatively benign weather prevailed until the 21st... when another
stormy session started that lasted through the end of the month. On
the 24th... a cold front swept across the area bringing one of the
windiest periods in some time. Gusts between 60 and 70 mph were
common across the hi-line... with the highest gust of 78 mph near
Chinook. Some blowing dust and damage from the wind was reported with
the strong gusts. Afterwards... colder temperatures and scattered
precipitation was reported across the area. The coldest temperature
for the month occurred at Wisdom /-19f/ on the 28th. On the
29th... another strong storm moved through Montana. As this system
moved through the Great Falls area... blizzard conditions prevailed
for about two hours. Heavy snow fell around the Bears Paw Mountains.
Cleveland reported 18 inches.

April was more typical for a Spring month. Overall temperatures were
below normal... with widely variable amounts of precipitation. The
colder temperatures and periods of snowfall kept snowpack at high
levels in the mountains. The southwest was very cold... with
temperatures averaging 8f below normal. Cold early in the month set a
few record lows in the southwest. Whiskey Creek snotel dropped to
-18f on the 2nd for the lowest temperature of the month. A weak storm
moving through the southwest on the 7th brought 5 inches of snow to
the Bozeman area. By the 11th... a period of above normal temperatures
finally came to the area. Temperatures pushed into the lower 80s at
many locations. The warmth was short-lived as another storm brought
winds and precipitation starting on the 14th. Choteau reported a gust
to 67 mph on the 14th... then up to 8 inches of snow fell in the
Bozeman area on the 15th. Another storm visited the area on the 19th
and 20th... then cold air followed. Blizzard conditions accompanied
the up to 16 inches of snow that fell during this storm in the Gold
Butte and Great Falls areas. Temperatures fell as low as -9f at
Rogers Pass and -8f at Great Falls. This was the latest that the
temperature had been below zero at Great Falls by a full two
weeks... and it broke the previous record low for the date by 19f.
After this cold and snow... temperatures slowly warmed.
Again... another storm dropped 6 inches of snow in the Bozeman area on
the 24th. Temperatures finally warmed to above normal again on the
27th and 28th... with highs in the lower 70s. Thunderstorms
accompanied a cold front on the 29th. Strong winds produced local
damage in The Fort Shaw area... with gusts to 65 mph at Loma.

May 2008 was highlighted by several storms. The month started out
cold with the lowest temperature of the month recorded at Darkhorse
Lake on the 1st /6f/. A storm moved through southern Montana around
the 12th... dropping 3.7 inches of snow in the Bozeman area. By the
17th... fears of flooding increased as temperatures peaked in the mid
80s. On the 20th... a cold front with thunderstorms moved across the
area producing 67 mph winds at Ennis and microburst wind damage near
Fort Shaw. After this front moved through... a weeklong period of
precipitation occurred. Two and one-half feet of snow fell in the
northern Rocky Mountains. Heavy precipitation occurred... with up to
11 inches at Badger Pass. At Badger Pass they collected 13.1 inches
of precipitation for the month... the most in may since records began
in 1980.

June brought welcome rains to many areas. A snowstorm on the 11th
dropped up to 9 inches of snow in the Great Falls area. Cool
temperatures prevailed during the first half of the month. Record
low temperatures occurred at several locations during this period.
During the snowstorm of the 11th... up to 40 inches of snow fell at
Badger Pass... with power outages in the Great Falls area. The lowest
temperature of 24 occurred at Big Sky on the 11th. Rain evaded
southwest Montana... Dillon had their driest June since 1979 and the
6th driest of record.

July was much cooler than July 2007... but temperatures averaged a
bit above normal. The coolest day of the month was on the
11th... after a cold front passed through bringing cooler air and
gusty winds. Great Falls dropped to 39f on the 11th... and Elk Park
fell to 26f on the 12th... for the areas lowest temperature.
Precipitation was largely below normal... with notable exceptions at
Cut Bank..and Dillon.

For most of the area... August was slightly warmer than normal... and
dry. An upper level ridge dominated for most of the month. The
warmest temperatures of the month occurred on the 1st and 25th.
Bozeman set record highs on both days. A severe thunderstorm
produced winds as high as 82 mph in the Elkhorn montains on the
10th. Winds returned to most areas by late in the month. Logan Pass
recorded gusts to 84 mph during this windy period. Late in the
month... a large storm system brought heavy precipitation... over 2
inches of rain to central Montana. This storm ended by producing
heavy snow to the Rocky Mountains.

September began with a continuation of the snowstorm of late August.
Up to 6 inches of snow fell over some of the higher mountains of
southwest Montana. Temperatures remained cool for the first 10
days... resulting in one of the coolest starts to September on
record. By mid-month... temperatures finally warmed. At Turner... the
temperature peaked at 94 on the 17th. After a week of very warm
weather... a cold front on the 20th ushered in cooler air accompanied
by thunderstorms. Temperatures averaged close to normal... with
variable precipitation amounts.

October 2008 was denoted as a month with near normal temperatures
and again... widely variable precipitation amounts. In the first
week... temperatures were above normal... with a week of below normal
temperatures and heavy snow in the Southwest Mountains following.
Swings from cold to warm with periods of precipitation prevailed for
the rest of the month. The first snows occurred around the
10th... with Elk Park dropping to -11f on the 13th. Windy conditions
accompanied the warming with Logan Pass recording 106 mph on the
14th. The biggest event of the month was a snowstorm from the 10th
through 12th. Up to 62 inches of snow fell in the Tobacco Root
Mountains in Madison County. Great Falls recorded nearly 7 inches. A
strong cold front brought strong winds and colder temperatures to
the area on the 25th. Wind gusts reached 60 mph with temperatures in
the 30s.

November was a very warm month. The upper flow pattern averaged a high
pressure ridge over the area. A cool period early in the month
produced the lowest temperature of the month at Elk Park on the 6th
/-7/. Scattered snow showers occurred during this cool period... with
1.5 feet of snow falling in the little belts on the 13th. This was
preceded by strong winds... Logan Pass reached 114 mph on the 15th.
Mild temperatures prevailed through the 18th... with windy conditions
along the Rocky Mountain front. East Glacier peaked at 73 mph on the
18th. Many locations exceeded 70f on the 18th... which was the latest
in the season for temperatures to exceed 70.

December 2008 was a very active and stormy month. It had its share
of cold temperatures and strong winds. Temperatures averaged the
coldest in 12 years... with Great Falls recording the snowiest
December of record. The first half of the month was mild with
temperatures as much as 20 degrees above normal. On the
13th... temperatures fell as Arctic air dominated until around the
25th. Temperatures did warm around Christmas and stayed mild
through the end of the month. Helena recorded a high temperature of
60 on the 1st... with gusty winds along the Rocky Mountain front.
Gusts reached over 80 mph. On the 13th... blizzard conditions
accompanied the frontal system. Winds reached 62 mph at Loma. Drifts
were as deep as 5 feet. The cold intensified... with Simpson falling
to -39 on the 16th. The warm-up around the 25th produced a bout of
heavy snow. A foot fell at Big Sky... with 9 inches in the Great
Falls area. Warmer temperatures were accompanied by strong winds.
Gusts reached 93 mph at Babb. On the 29th... another storm system
brought thunderstorms and snow to the Helena area. Winds reached 80
mph at east Glacier.