Thunderstorm Wind in Flathead County, Montana

Widespread high winds were reported as a line of thunderstorms, in the form of a squall line, moved north-northeastward across the region. While wind gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour were common, a person from the public in Kila reported a measured peak wind gust of 78 miles per hour, and the ASOS at Glacier Park International Airport recorded a peak wind gust of 69 miles per hour. Numerous trees were either snapped in half or uprooted,��which resulted in over 200 power outages and 37,000 customers without power. Several houses and vehicles were destroyed as trees fell onto them. Highway 2 and Montana Highway 83 were both covered by fallen trees for a time. A local electric coop remarked that this wind event may be the largest, most damaging outage event in our history.

Numerous trees and power poles were blown down along the northern shores of Flathead lake. The roof to Carpenter's Arena near Kalispell was blown off. Damage to two other roofs was observed. One small grain silo was blown over near Somers. The damage observed from the NWS storm survey crew was indicative of straight line wind damage. Based upon the damage observed, winds were estimated to be between 80 and 100 mph.

Multiple thunderstorms collided together just south of Flathead Lake and produced a severe gust front that tracked north to the Flathead Valley. Multiple observers reported that the strong winds lasted for up to 15 minutes. Dozens of toppled trees, damaged power poles, transmission and distribution lines were reported from Bigfork up to Columbia Falls from strong winds. Power outages lasted for 24 hours. The golf course in Bigfork reported losing 59 trees, mostly spruce from 20 to 30 feet tall with diameters between 18 inches and 2.5 feet. The restaurant at the golf course lost all their food due to the power outage.