125 mph Wind Gust Recorded on Mt. Sentinel on Wednesday

Just how windy was in on Wednesday?

Meteorologist Corby Nickerson with the National Weather Service Office in Missoula said he was in awe of the powerful winds that swept over western Montana, especially up on Mt. Sentinel.

"It was quite an impressive windy day yesterday," said Nickerson. "We had gusts as high as 125 miles per hour observed, and that was on the east side of Missoula up there on Mt. Sentinel. Really, truly remarkable. Probably one of the windiest days I've seen since I've been here over the past 15 years."

Nickerson said the valleys also received significant wind gusts.

"Here at the airport we pushed 59 miles per hour, and we had gusts of up to 67 miles per hour in the Bitterroot and in Stevensville,: he said. "I can attest to that. In Lolo, we were easily gusting into the 50's, which is pretty unusual for where I live. It's quite a bit of wind."

As a scientist, Nickerson was overwhelmed with the sheer power of nature in such an event.

"It was really a beautiful event," he said. "That's one of the weirdest ways to put it, but sometimes in meteorology, when you look at it from a scientific perspective it was really quite remarkable to see that kind of wind measured aloft  that got transported down to the surface as that strong cold front moved through the area."

Nickerson said he did not have any scientific data to confirm that the 125 mile per hour gust was a record.