133 mph gusts in park

The Daily Inter Lake

Hurricane-force winds measured at Logan Pass

If you think the weather outside is frightful, try loading your sleigh or delivering presents at Logan Pass.

Over the last week, weather sensors attached to the Logan Pass Visitor Center have recorded sustained winds as high as 70 miles per hour - with gusts as high as 133 mph.

During an 18-hour period on Wednesday and Thursday, for example, the lowest sustained winds reported by the sensors was 55 mph. The average was 64 mph, with gusts ranging from 85-133 mph.

Since the morning of Dec. 8, only five of 160 hourly readings have reported single-digit wind speeds. Winds of 40 mph or greater were reported more than a quarter of that time.

The readings came well before a strong storm front passed through the Flathead early Friday, bringing sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph at Glacier Park International Airport.

It's unclear what that storm did at Logan Pass - weather sensors there stopped reporting at midnight on Friday, a few hours before the high winds passed through - but it made for difficult conditions east of the Continental Divide.

Browning, for example, reported sustained winds of 29 to 41 mph between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday, with gusts ranging from 55 to 75 mph.

The Beaufort wind scale, which was developed in 1805 to measure the effects of high winds, describes winds of 25 to 31 mph as a "strong breeze," with 32 to 38 mph being a "near gale."

The 15 to 25 mph experienced in the Flathead only qualified as a moderate or fresh breeze, while the 64 mph at Logan Pass would describe a "violent storm," capable of uprooting trees and buildings.

Winds higher than 73 mph are hurricane force.