Nick Vertz suspected calm weather wouldn’t soon return after last week’s high-speed wind event that recorded 101-mph winds in Glacier County. The Billings-based National Weather Service forecaster said Montanans should expect exceptionally strong gusts Tuesday night and Wednesday.

“I joke that the weather’s just playing catch up with how mild of a fall and start to the winter we had,” Vertz told Montana Free Press on Tuesday. 

Nearly the entire state is under an official high-wind warning, meaning the weather service expects wind speeds of 58 mph or greater. While the official warning status may vary by region, the weather service anticipates the strong winds will move west to east through late Wednesday evening.

Winds aloft, higher altitude gusts that generally exceed wind speeds on the surface, are both unusually powerful and relatively low in altitude. Vertz says high-speed winds aloft blowing downward is the result of warm weather.

“You can think of it as pushing those strong winds aloft down to reach the surface,” Vertz said. 

Though much of Montana experienced a similar strong-wind pattern last week, Vertz said this system  is a statewide event and that the weather service has “more confidence in those stronger winds to occur just all across the board.”

With gusts coming out of the northwest, Vertz advised caution for drivers headed north or south, who would likely experience the “full brunt of those crosswinds.”

Montana’s most recent experience with a major wind event on a similar scale occurred in January 2021, according to Vertz.

Ongoing flooding in northwest Montana makes the area particularly vulnerable to high-wind hazards, like saturated soil around tree roots, according to Bryan Conlan, a weather service meteorologist based out of Missoula. 

“Anywhere within western Montana at this point, with these strong to damaging winds, trees could blow over,” Conlan said.

Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday requested President Donald Trump issue a presidential disaster declaration in response to the flooding in the northwest part of the state. 

As even more ocean moisture makes its way from the Pacific Northwest into Montana via “atmospheric rivers,” precipitation is likely to continue in western Montana.

“One of the differences between this and the prior system is there will be a very strong cold front that’ll be coming along,” Conlan said. 

A cold front on Wednesday will mix with moisture from the atmospheric river, producing a combination of rain and snow. Cold air also leads to winds aloft descending, resulting in strong wind across high elevations in western Montana. On Monday night, winds in Glacier National Park reached almost 100 mph.

“This is going to be a fairly strong event,” Conlan said.

Nora Mabie contributed to this reporting. 

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – KRQE News 13 has learned more about the disappearance of 36-year-old Joel “Deano” Valdez, and why, nearly three months after he went missing, his family believes he is dead. Valdez went missing on September 18, on his way home after a job on the other end of the state. After weeks of searching, on Monday night, Valdez’s family announced their loved one was dead, but did not provide information to support their claim.

On Tuesday, the family issued a follow-up statement saying they hired a private investigator who obtained interviews from several people who confirmed Valdez’s death. They said that Valdez, a Marine vet and father of three, was headed from Silver City to Coyote back in September but had stopped at a Santa Fe gas station before he vanished.

Media reports described an incident where Valdez may have been preyed upon in his white Chevy Silverado pickup truck. Valdez’s family believes that “something nefarious happened” to him, leading to his demise. Bank statements show Valdez stopped at a gas station and an ATM in Santa Fe before he vanished. His family also said that his credit cards were used by someone else after he went missing.

In the statement released Tuesday, the family said in part, “Waiting for his remains to be found makes it difficult to start the grieving process.

Monday night, a family member said, “To go so long without answers has been heart-wrenching and heartbreaking for all of us. We still don’t have all the answers and hope to one day have some clarity and peace.”

KRQE News 13 asked the Santa Fe Police Department about the incident. They said on the day that Valdez went missing, they received a 911 call about three people breaking into a white pickup truck. The caller said they heard someone inside the truck yelling for help. Before they arrived, Santa Fe police officers were diverted to a higher-priority call.

According to police records, when an officer finally arrived at the scene 45 minutes later, there was nothing to report. KRQE News 13 is cautioning viewers that it is not clear if the 911 incident had anything to do with Valdez or his pickup truck.

New Mexico State Police are in charge of the investigation, and they told KRQE News 13 they are still treating Valdez as a missing persons case.