What a day it was! There was so much that happened Wednesday in Montana.
To begin, it was the hottest day of the year so far for a lot of locations in central and eastern Montana as highs were in the 80s and low to mid 90s. A few locations did tie or set a new record high temperature today, including Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, and Havre.
The weather became extremely active during the afternoon and evening as a cold front began to pass through the area. There were scattered severe thunderstorms with damaging winds. Many locations recorded wind gusts over 60 mph, and a location near Big Sandy recorded a wind gust of 85 mph!
The combination of strong winds and dry conditions allowed a massive dust storm, or haboob, to develop ahead of a line of severe thunderstorms earlier this evening. This haboob primarily impacted Hill County and portions of Chouteau County.
Haboobs are a sight to see, but they are also very dangerous, especially if you get caught driving in them.
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The strong winds also caused some damage. There were trees blown over in Havre, Great Falls, and Helena. Part of a roof was blown off in Box Elder, and there were multiple car ports that were destroyed in Havre. There were also multiple power outages reported across the area, some of which lasted for several hours.
The storms were a great opportunity for people to take pictures. As you can see below, Great Falls ended Wednesday with a vibrant double rainbow!
