If You Were In Montana This Weekend, Your Hat Probably Blew Off

A common sight around parts of Montana amid high winds Saturday.
Photo from the Great Falls Tribune. 

While we in Vermont were still under calm winds and murky skies, let's just say itwas pointless to wear a hat in much of Montana on Saturday. And in much of the West this weekend for that matter.

Up in Montana, parts of the state often get strong chinook winds, which are warm, dry downslope westerly or southwesterly winds off the Rocky Mountains.

However, the wind definitely got ridiculous in Montana Saturday, with gusts in th 80 to 90 mph range in some towns during the worst of it.

Yeah, definitely hang on to your hat weather.

At Great Falls, Montana, winds gusted to more than 40 mph for 29 hours straight.  The wind gusts there peaked at 82 mph and for several hours gusted to 60 to 70 mph or more.

The warm winds melted what little snow was on the ground.  The hurricane forced gusts caused dust storms and blowing smoke from rapidly spreading rangeland fires.  The dust and smoke blocked visibility on many open highways, leading to a number of crashes, KRTV in Great Falls reports.

The high winds closed Route 87, a major highway in the region.  And of course there the reports of trees and wires down everywhere.  

The downslope winds also created record warmth in some areas of Montana, with highs getting into the 60s.

The wind shifted into the north and died down a LOT Saturday night. But it got colder and started to snow.  A more typical February deal up there.

The high winds shifted into the Southwest on Sunday. Gusts last night were expected to be as high as 90 mph in the high mountain passes east of Los Angeles.  Widespread gusts of 50 to 60 mph were blowing across much of the desert Southwest.

All that wind out west is a hint that the weather pattern is changing to a stormier one. Already, a snowstorm has blossomed in the central Rockies, including in the Salt Lake City area, where they could see up to ten inches of new snow.

This stormier pattern will eventually get to us in Vermont late in the week. It's still too soon to say  how much precipitation we're going to get, or what kind.

Here's a news clip from KRTV in Great Falls regarding Saturday's wind: