Wind matches record in Great Falls

Some folks may want to get all scientifickity and peg Saturday's blustery winds in Great Falls on high-pressure systems, low-pressure systems and whatnot.

Or, you just may want to take the easy route and lay the blame on Mary Anderson.

The 46-year-old Livingston resident was in the Electric City on Saturday, visiting her parents in the town where she grew up.

"It's crazy," she said while strolling down Central Avenue. "The wind is really strong."

Like Great Falls, Livingston is a town known for its strong gusts. And she said the wind was certainly strong in Livingston earlier in the week.

"This just followed me."

But if you are stickler for science, Saturday's wind — which reported gusts of 58 mph at 2:37 p.m. at Great Falls International Airport that matched a record set in 1986 — was caused by a cold front moving through resulting with a strong-pressure difference from one side to the other, said Paul Nutter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"It's been a busy day," Nutter said Saturday afternoon, added that there have been reported gusts of 55-60 mph in central, southern and southeast Montana.

And some winds along Interstate 15 between Butte and Boulder were so strong that it knocked trucks off the road. There were also reports of trees and branches down in some parts of the state.

Power reported a gust of 70 mph about 1:15 p.m., Nutter said, and Cutbank got a gust of 66 mph at 2:14 p.m., Nutter said.

"We have numerous reports," adding that some of the information had been gathered through social media.

And it wasn't without humor. One caller told the Tribune that it was so windy in Choteau earlier in the day that a farmer had a chicken that laid the same egg twice.

The winds in the area were expected to last until 6-7 p.m. Saturday.

"The good news is that once it weakens this evening, it will come down quickly," Nutter said.

Earlier in the week, the NWS had issued a high-wind warning through 9 p.m. Saturday.

Great Falls fire and rescue officials said Saturday afternoon that they had not received any wind-related calls, however there were some scanner reports of branches interfering with power lines.

Butch Larcombe, spokesman for utility provider NorthWestern Energy, said there were some power outages in the Great Falls area. He said 1,400 customers were without power in Fort Benton, Carter, Tunis and other surrounding areas. He said it was hoped to have power restored to Fort Benton soon, but they would have to patrol transmission lines to find the problem.

He said there were significant outage problems in Bozeman and Billings. Some areas reported multiple outages and problems with transmission lines.

Between Reed Point and Columbus, there were reports of four transmission poles blown down, Larcombe said.

And in the Billings area, there were reports of people without power, and it could have struck as many as 2,000 customers, he said. In Bozeman, a tree fell and its roots came up and ruptured gas line. Some homes had to be evacuated.

"It's been a very busy and very windy day," he said.

But there was some good news for a portion of Montana among all this bluster; temperatures in southeast Montana hit the 80s on Saturday, ahead of the cold front.

Those folks should count their blessings that Mary Anderson didn't decide to visit there.