Severe Weather Events
July 7, 11, and 14, 2004 |
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| July 7, 2004 |
| Severe Weather Event in Dawson County |
| Severe Thunderstorms moved through the region on the evening of
the 7th of July, and while they dropped a lot of heavy rain across
the area, the area worst hit was Dawson County. The area from about
10 miles southeast of Richey southward to Bloomfield had approximately
12,000 acres of crop damage and high winds that caused some grain
hoppers to be blown over. A grain hopper
near county road 515 was completely toppled over and rolled about
150 to 200 yards downwind. A National Weather Service damage survey
suggests that the winds would have been in the 90 mph range to move
the 3900 pound bin. Two miles southeast of Bloomfield, there were
5 grain hoppers that weigh 5500
pounds each, and the two southern most hoppers were toppled over.
All of these hoppers were empty at the time, but had they been full,
likely would not have toppled over. |
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The crop damage (much of it 100% destroyed) was due to hail reported up to
1.5 inches in diameter combined with winds in the 40 to 60 mph range that
lasted for 30 to 45 minutes. The photographs show
the hail still in drifts in some areas the next day. |
| The National Weather Service received excellent reports from the many weather
spotters in the area during the event, and their help during and after the event
were invaluable. |
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| July 11, 2004 |
| Northeast Montana Severe Weather Event |
| Not one county in northeast Montana went through the evening of July 11th
without at least one severe weather warning. In all with the Severe Thunderstorm
Warnings, Tornado Warnings and Flash Flood Warnings, the National Weather Service
in Glasgow issued 27 warnings in 6 hours. With all the products issued related to
the severe weather, the staff was issuing a product once every 6.4 minutes. Over
100 phones calls were made and received to and from weather spotters around the 12
counties that NWS Glasgow issued warnings for. The most significant hail reports
were as high as 4.25 inches in diameter in the Frenchman Valley area, and the winds gusts
measured as high as 85 mph south of the town of Wibaux. Significant wind
damage was reported to structures from Savage in southern Richland County southward to
St. Phillips in Wibaux County. To the people living in those areas, it will be a storm not
soon forgotten. |
| There were many reports of rotation with the storms, and a weather spotter
even saw a wall cloud north of his home between Saco and Hinsdale.
Another spotter near Wibaux around the site of a possible tornado was not home during
the event, which was a big disappointment to him. He told the NWS Glasgow, "I missed the
spotter report of a lifetime!" He made up for it by sending many
photographs of the damage on his farm. The Wibaux County Disaster and Emergency Services
Coordinator and the Wibaux County Sheriff went on a survey and also sent some amazing damage
photos. |
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After reviewing all the photographs and information from the event, the
verdict for what hit were straight line winds for both the Savage storm
and the storm south of Wibaux. From the direction to which most of the
debris was thrown, as well as photographs of the storm sent in by
spotters and final review of the radar data, the high winds (
some were measured at 85 mph!) were more than capable of producing the
damage that occurred. |
| Another interesting item from that night was the number of people who
saw a rotating wall cloud north of Saco and Hinsdale. Many of the
farmers and ranchers north of that area were at the Northeast
Montana Fair, a few weeks after the event, and they all mentioned how impressive the storm was that
night. Not one ever saw a tornado, but with horizon limitations
and the wall cloud being as low to the ground as it was, if one occurred, it
would have been difficult to see. |
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| July 14, 2004 |
| Sheridan County Tornadoes |
| While thunderstorms were forecast for the evening of July 14th, the end
result was a bit more dramatic than what was originally expected earlier in the day.
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch
for extreme northeastern Montana and Western North Dakota at 540 pm through midnight.
All evening, the NWS Glasgow WSR-88D radar was showing a very
intense storm 150 miles to the north in Canada. It was pretty impressive a
our Canadian neighbors were in a Tornado Watch and were issuing many warnings
on this system. Two storms developed just north of the border above Daniels
and Sheridan Counties and were slowly moving east-southeast. Our office called
the border patrol station at the Port of Raymond, gave advance notice to the
employees there, and asked them to call if they started to get any bad weather
from it. About 30 minutes later they mentioned it was hailing there, and we
issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. Within 15 minutes, the border station
called again to tell us it was golf ball sized hail. At this point the storm
took a sharper right turn, and a weather spotter called to report
a wall cloud that was rotating. NWS Glasgow immediately issued a tornado warning.
We then called the Sheridan County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator
and the Sheridan County Head Dispatcher to ask them to also verify the
rotation of the storm. At 8:20 pm, the first report of a tornado was received
from three separate spotters. The tornado was just to the
northeast of Plentywood, and it was only on the ground for a brief time. About
15 minutes later, the storm produced another 3 short-lived tornados between
835 pm and 845 pm. Once again, the three weather spotters
called to confirm the same thing. NWS employees had an incredible view of the
storms from the office in Glasgow. |
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| July 7, 2004 Damage in Dawson County |
| July 7, 2004 Hail in Dawson County |
| July 11, 2004 Hail in Northeast Montana |
| July 14, 2004 Storms in Sheridan County as seen from Glasgow |
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