Missoula, western Montanans, clean up after windstorm, 109 mph gusts on Mount Sentinel

Jan Oliver cleans up after a storm ripped out trees in Missoula and cracked a fir over a utility room in her home. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

Missoulians were cleaning up debris and negotiating power outages Thursday after a storm and high winds the night before split trees to the ground and uprooted them, dropped power lines and damaged homes and gardens.

Jan Oliver, who owns a home in the middle of Missoula, was clearing branches Thursday afternoon with one tenant, Bryan Bennett, and a couple of volunteers, including one who showed up with a chainsaw.

Oliver said the top of a fir tree cracked onto her home, and she estimated it might have caused a few thousand dollars’ in damage, but she said it only hurt a utility room.

“There’s a little bit of damage, but it’s not too bad,” Oliver said.

The storm lasted less than an hour, but it blew gusts of 109 miles per hour across the top of Mount Sentinel, according to the National Weather Service Missoula.

Sirens could be heard shortly after the wind started blasting across town.

The strongest gales blew through Missoula, although the storm affected southwest Montana and areas as far north as Kalispell, according to the National Weather Service.

Thursday afternoon, NorthWestern Energy said it had restored power for more than 23,000 customers who had lost service overnight. The utility estimated 20,000 people remained without power and some would not have service restored until the evening of July 25.

NorthWestern also said uprooted and downed trees damaged natural gas meters and natural gas lines and advised people to call 911 or NorthWestern at (888) 467-2669 if they smell gas.

Missoula County and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks also advised people to stay out of rivers and creeks in case downed power lines were energizing water: “Residents should not recreate on or around the water until further notice.”

The Missoula Police Department requested essential travel only to ensure power crews could easily clear roadways, and University of Montana President Seth Bodnar requested employees work from home as the campus recovers.

“Grizzlies, I hope you all are safe,” Bodnar said in a social media post. “Power outage @umontana as we work to restore operations & cleanup campus. Employees: please plan to work remotely today if possible.

“The storm impacted the UM family in significant ways, please prioritize your needs as we recover together.”

Neither the city nor county of Missoula had received reports of serious injuries beyond scrapes. However, in a post on social media, Gov. Greg Gianforte said he was paying attention to the emergency.

“I am closely monitoring the progress of power restoration and debris removal in western Montana after last night’s storm and will bring the necessary resources to bear in the recovery,” Gianforte said.

The storm that started ripping through the city around 9 p.m. brought cooler temperatures, but it came on the heels of record breaking heat, according to the National Weather Service.

“#Missoula broke the record daily high temperature for July 24th, coming in with a max temp of 102 degrees. This breaks the old record daily high of 100 degrees set in 1933,” said @nwsmissoula.

So far this July, it also brought the most precipitation in one day, although just 0.14 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Brian Conlan said the cold front knocked down the high pressure ridge that had been bringing in warm air, and he anticipated closer to normal temperatures for a short period.

“We’ll be closer to what our highs should be for the next few days,” Conlan said.

The highs are forecast to be in the mid-80s compared to triple digits. He said another high pressure ridge is then expected to build but also to be cut down by another storm from the northern Pacific Ocean.

On X, KYSS reporter Dennis Bragg said an unofficial count showed more than 400 lightning strikes in the Missoula area during the storm, and Conlan said that sounded “pretty darn close.”

(Conlan said a wind gust of 41 mph cut out the power supply from the weather monitor at the airport at 8:53 p.m. so he didn’t have the exact data.)

Missoulian reporter David Erickson reported a local homeless shelter and soup kitchen, the Poverello Center, worked without power Thursday after the storm, which affected a person who was sleeping in their car the night before.

“A tree fell on the vehicle of people sleeping in the vehicle near the Poverello Center homeless shelter,” said @david_erickson in a post on X. “I’m told they’re ok. One woman is sleeping on the sidewalk now after escaping. The Pov, Montana’s largest shelter, is without power.”

At times, Missoula County’s 911 dispatch center exceeded capacity due to the high number of calls, and overflow went to Flathead County, said communications manager Allison Franz in an email: “This is by design to accommodate high call volumes.”

The storm lasted 30 to 60 minutes, Conlan said, and he shared the reason it appeared to descend on Missoula with such ferocity. The area had been “exceptionally warm” for a while.

At the time the storm hit, Missoula was still 90 to 93 degrees, he said. The storm created its own cool air, and the difference between the cool air and the 91-or-so degrees helped accelerate the wind.

“Another mechanism would be the raindrops falling through dry air,” Conlan said. “As they evaporate, that cools the air,” and more acceleration occurs.

He also said the storms were being pushed by mid- level atmospheric winds around 50 to 55 mph.

“So it had a lot of things going for it to create these strong winds, and it all just came together by the time it got to Missoula,” Conlan said.

Conlan advised community members to listen to their local government and forest officials in the wake of the damage.

“It’s going to take some time to clean up Missoula,” Conlan said.

Missoula City and County advise the following:

• INFORMATION LINE: Residents with non-emergent questions following Wednesday’s storm can call 406-258-INFO (4636). Updates are also available at missoula.co/storm and on the County’s social media pages. Residents should continue to call 9-1-1 in an emergency.
• With many people without power and power lines still down, please check on your neighbors to make sure they’re OK, especially if they’re elderly. 9-1-1 is busy taking many calls, and if you’re able to help your neighbors, this can relieve the pressure off our emergency communications and dispatchers.

• The Red Cross is staffing the Elections Center, 140 N. Russell St., for residents who need to charge essential personal devices. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to provide electricity, air conditioning, a shower (bring towels) for people who otherwise don’t have these services. No medical services will be available.
• Please conserve water. With power still out in many areas, the City and County are still using back-up generators to move water around.
• Many traffic signals in the Missoula area are still not functioning. Remember: treat these intersections as four-way stops, slow down, be patient and watch for emergency traffic. If you don’t have to drive today, don’t!
• Power is still out for much of the area; the utilities that service the area are working to restore it. Do not touch downed power lines.
• County and City Public Works departments are working to clear debris from public streets/roads and other public rights-of-way. Do not call 9-1-1 to report trees blocking the right-of-way.

• DEBRIS DROP-OFF: The following sites are now available for residents to drop-off debris from the storm at no cost. They will be open for the next two weeks; certain sites have designated hours. Garden City Compost is the primary dump site, so use this site first. Only dump debris in designated areas and follow all on-site instructions.
  • Garden City Compost (1125 Clark Fork Lane)
  • Fort Missoula (36th Street lot)
  • Larchmont triangle (access of Post Siding Road)
  • Playfair Park (west lost, north of ball fields)
  • McCormick Park (east lot)
  • Fort Missoula Ponds (access via 40th Avenue, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
• Some City and County offices are closed or providing services remotely. People needing to access services should call the specific department before going in.

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