Power Outage in Glendive, MT

Public reported hurricane force wind gusts, power poles nearly blown over, and 75-year old trees blown over.

Thunderstorm winds temporarily knocked out power in West Glendive, MT, as well as north of Glendive. The report was received from a trained spotter via social media. Time of event is consistent with a 57 mph wind gust that was measured at the Glendive Airport ASOS.

The National Weather Service in Glasgow conducted a damage survey in Glendive on July 28, 2015 following a significant severe thunderstorm that hit the evening before coming in from the southwest. NWS staff met with county and city officials before and after the survey to be briefed and brief them on what was discovered. The event was a macroburst (large scale straight line wind event) with some microburst components in between. | There were not enough time and resources to enter the various neighborhoods that were impacted, and due to the number of trees and power lines down, it was not safe to try and go around these areas where crews were working. In order to best evaluate the wind speeds, the structures with the most damage were focused on as recommended by the Emergency Operations Center staff. Several dozen homes were viewed though, and the damage was generally due to trees and branches lost, or shingles torn off of roofs. That includes trees in homes or on cars, some partially blown off roofs, and trailer homes or semi-trailers blown over. The damage survey started with the power lines west-northwest of town on Highway 200, then to the Glendive airport, Seven Mile Drive, back through town on Highway 200S, up Merrill Ave and then up Highway 16 north to Sidney for 10 miles. | Access to the large metal truss electrical transmission towers west-northwest of town on Highway 200S was not possible due to the extreme mud conditions. There were at least 5 noted as having crumbled toward the ground. Further investigation will have to be done with the owner of the structures as to the age of these towers, but at minimum the winds would���ve been 120 mph. There are also numerous wooden poles snapped at the bases and part way up along Highway 200. The NWS will get total numbers from utility providers once they have a chance to assess all the damage. |At the airport, winds were gusting to 90 mph last night on an anemometer on top of the terminal roof. The winds tore the anemometer off the roof though, so a peak wind was not measured. The FAA AWOS station that is the official observing equipment for the airport lost power, and a maximum gust was not received from it either. There was a large cottonwood tree that was uprooted near the terminal building. There were three metal roof/siding airplane hangars damaged. One was completely destroyed, and the other two had the metal roofing peeled back/off. The one that was destroyed wasn���t cemented into the ground and the posts easily ripped out of the ground when the wind blew against it. All the debris was blown towards the north-northeast. The winds are estimated at 90 to 95 mph at this location. |The next stop was on Highway 200S just southeast of the Interstate turnoff. Significant damage occurred to a large metal building. The failure point was two large garage doors that face southwest. There is nothing to stop the wind as it rolls through the valley towards it. The garage doors blew in, and the roof blew off. One of the employees mentioned that sheet metal from another building southwest of them was blown towards their building. The impact of that metal hitting the doors may have helped cause the doors to fail and be blown in. This metal building had solid steel I-Beams in the ceiling that were bent back where the roof peeled back. Power poles with transformers on them were snapped off near this facility and just east-southeast of it. The transformers are pretty heavy and the resistance and weight of them against the wind made them easy targets to be snapped. All the debris was blown in a north-northeasterly direction. Between the building and the power poles, winds at this location are estimated to have been around 100 to 110 mph.|7 Mile Drive was next. There were many homes with shingles peeled off, and large trees split and large branches down, metal buildings damaged and sheet metal blown around. A few power poles were also snapped. We stopped at an office building and a newer, well-built warehouse after noticing the garage doors on the warehouse were bent out. There was also some insulation missing on a portion of a wall. They had already cleaned up the south side doors, which had blown in as the winds came off the hill and crumbled some of the north side doors. There was very little noticeable roof damage, which is something you will often see with garage doors blowing in, a testament to how well the building was built and the steel I-beams used in the trusses. Winds at this location are estimated at 100-105 mph. |Another metal building structure was viewed south of the interstate off of 7 Mile Drive. A large overhead door that faces south was blown in and the roof right above it peeled off and blown to the north. On the north side of the building, the majority of the roof (with wooden trusses) was either collapsed into the building or blown north-northeastward. Winds at this location are estimated at 95 to 100 mph.|As we went down Highway 200S into downtown, the most notable damage was tree branches down. We went down Marsh Road, and there were a lot of trees damaged in that area from 1 to 3 miles south of town. House damage was generally due to branches falling on them or against them. Heading north on Merrill Ave, tree damage was the most noticed damage, specifically near the high school football field. A large blue spruce was noted down near I-94 and roof damage with shingles and fascia torn off were noted on a new hotel at that location. Winds in this portion of town are estimated to have been 80-90 mph. |We continued north on Highway 16 towards Sidney. The number of damaged trees and sheds quickly reduced as we headed north and by 10 miles we were really looking hard to see any damage. At four miles north of town, there was a home with a new barn that had all but the west wall collapse. With no one home, we did not go out into the field to assess the barn closer, but it was newly built. Winds at this point are estimated at 100 mph.

Ice moved into the Glendive area overnight on March 9-10. The ice jammed in Glendive causing the water to rise over 8 feet in less than 15 minutes. The jam caused water and ice to flow across the Marsh Road just southwest of town, and it also took out several power poles. The ice jam further impacted the town as water and ice filled into the Toepke Park baseball/softball complex. At least one 1,000 gallon propane tank was lifted from its base and floated down river. The USGS gauge in Glendive peaked at 57.29 feet, but the ice caused a large area of low-land flooding downstream of the gauge for the next 36 hours.

Ice moved into the Glendive area overnight on March 9-10. The ice jammed in Glendive causing the water to rise over 8 feet in less than 15 minutes. The jam caused water and ice to flow across the Marsh Road just southwest of town, and it also took out several power poles. The ice jam further impacted the town as water and ice filled into the Toepke Park baseball/softball complex. At least one 1,000 gallon propane tank was lifted from its base and floated down river. The USGS gauge in Glendive peaked at 57.29 feet, but the ice caused a large area of low-land flooding downstream of the gauge for the next 36 hours.

The Glendive AWOS reported several hours of sustained winds above 40 mph through 1600 MST with a gust to 67 mph. Lindsay Divide had similar winds with a gust to 59 mph. A small amount of snow fell too with the most being reported (2) at 2 miles west of Bloomfield. Blizzard conditions were reported over most of the county. Power was lost at 0235 MST in the Lindsay area.

Snow accumulation downed power lines with also reports of arching in West Glendive.

Shingles were blown off of several homes in Richey. One house had a couple of windows that were blown out. Several one and half foot diamter trees were blown over, which caused power outages.

A line of severe thunderstorms roared through the Glendive area and caused extensive damage. A National Weather Service storm survey was conducted, and it was determined that although there may have been funnel clouds in the area, all of the damage was caused by straight line winds of around 100 mph. The team first surveyed the damage just north of downtown, along the east bank of the Yellowstone River. Two trees, the largest of which was a 44 year old pine, were uprooted at a residence. Both trees were pushed leaning northeast onto and partially through the exterior wall and roof of the house. Throughout this area of the city, there were numerous other trees and branches taken down by the storm. Widespread damage was observed throughout the West park area, across the Yellowstone River from downtown. Within the park, numerous trees and tree branches of 1 to 2 feet in diameter were uprooted and snapped. Not far from the park, the roof of an auto shop sustained heavy damage. On the southwest side of the Glendive area, a large, healthy tree with a 32-inch diameter trunk uprooted and fell through the corner of a residence, with the main trunk entering through the wall and roof of a bedroom. Farther southwest in the Berry subdivision, an entire garage of a residence appeared entirely dismantled by the winds, with some of the debris observed as far as a half mile downwind. The southwest side of one of the hangers at the Dawson County Community Airport was destroyed when large pieces of the exterior walls and sheet metal roof were blown out. A small plane and classic car both sustained heavy damage. From the airport, two large towers, carrying main power lines on a ridge between Dry Creek and Highway 200-S could be seen knocked down. More damage was observed to garages and roofing on Highway 200-S a few miles to the west of town. Another large tree also fell on a house in the Forest Park area. The wind speed was measured at 91 mph at the Glendive AWOS, and twenty minutes later the wind was still gusting to 75 mph, suggestive of sustained-duration, straight line winds.

A polar airmass that originated out of the Arctic Ocean plunged into most of Montana while a Pacific disturbance moved east across the state. This brought an early season light snowfall to most of the area. The highest amounts fell in the Glendive area and into Wibaux County. Power was interrupted due to the accumulation on power lines.

A strong and nearly stationary area of low pressure across extreme northeast Montana produced blizzard conditions in the Little Rockies and Big Sheep mountains, where up to 2 feet of wet snow was reported across the higher elevations. The snow was accompained by wind gusts in excess of 70 mph which produced considerable blowing and drifting snow. Snow drifts of up to 6 feet were reported in the town of Zortman, and the power was out in town for about 24 hours. Many calves were lost in the Little Rockies, and 100 year old trees were blown down due to the high wind.