Powerful winds swept across north-central Montana on Thursday, toppling trucks, snapping trees and knocking out power as gusts approached hurricane-force levels in some areas.
In Great Falls, wind gusts reached 79 miles per hour, strong enough to overturn campers and semi trucks, damage property and keep cleanup crews busy throughout the day.
Brianna Juneau reports - watch the video here:
Residents across the city woke up to the sound of powerful gusts, and in some cases, immediate damage.
Great Falls resident Kim Swartz Wilson said she first noticed something was wrong early Thursday morning. She says, “At about 5:15 I heard a strange noise outside my bathroom and I didn't think nothing of it, and about 20 minutes later I came out and I found that my fence had blown over.”
Wilson said the section of fencing that collapsed was reinforced with metal supports because it was already aging and scheduled to be replaced this summer.
“But Mother Nature had another idea,” she says. Despite the damage, Wilson said she was relieved the fence did not cause a larger problem. “I’m just grateful it didn't fall on my neighbor's truck up there,” she says. “But yeah, I think that's close to 16 feet worth of fencing.”
Across town, tree service crews say they have been responding to calls throughout the day as strong gusts topple or split trees.
Zach Mathes, owner of Big Sky Tree Service, a locally owned business based in Great Falls, said one of the jobs his crew handled involved a large tree that had been blown over and caught in another tree near a home. “They had the wind blow this entire tree over, and it was laying up in this tree,” Mathes says.
Using heavy equipment including an excavator and crane truck, his crew worked to safely remove the tree without causing further damage to the property. Mathes said the storm created widespread tree damage throughout the area. He says, “A lot of downed trees, broken tops on the pine trees, split trees, kind of a little bit of everything in the high winds, especially this year with the lack of moisture.”
Dry conditions can weaken root systems and make trees more susceptible to strong winds. Calls for help often come in waves during storms like this. Mathes said many begin early in the morning as the winds intensify, while others come later in the day when homeowners return from work and discover the damage. Some trees pose a greater risk during windstorms, particularly large pine trees located near homes.
“Big pine trees, really tall, big ones on the north or west side, that kind of seems like where our wind usually comes from,” Mathes says, “And if they're bowing really bad and pine trees root really shallow, so they're kind of the most dangerous.”
The powerful winds were not limited to residential areas.
Across north-central Montana, authorities reported several campers and semi trucks blown over, particularly in Fergus and Judith Basin counties. Those areas experienced some of the strongest winds in the state, including a gust that reached 104 miles per hour at Judith Peak in Fergus County.
A portion of Highway 191 was closed between Eddies Corner and Harlowton due to numerous semis being blown over.
A semi truck was also blown over along Highway 87 about five miles east of Great Falls on Thursday morning.
Tow companies say they often have to wait until winds weaken before they can safely lift those trucks back onto their wheels, since strong gusts can make recovery operations dangerous for crews working with heavy equipment.
The storm also disrupted operations at Showdown Ski Resort, which announced Thursday morning that it would close for the day after losing power when a tree fell onto a power line. Later in the day, the resort said electricity had been restored and that it plans to reopen Friday.
Meteorologists say the damaging winds are expected to gradually weaken Thursday night as a cold front moves through the region, bringing an end to the windstorm.
