Tornado Blasts Glentana Hard

The good news is nobody was physically hurt. The bad news is some shops, roofs, grain bins and any loose-standing objects were physically damaged if not outright destroyed. It was the late-afternoon hours of Monday, July 18, when a tornado’s path roared right through the heart of Glentana,Montana—adirect hit on the townsite! According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service (NWS) in Glasgow, which sent some personnel to the scene Tuesday morning, it was an EF-2 tornado, meaning wind speeds up to 120 miles per hour. EF stands for Enhanced Fujipa and the scale is from 0-5 with 5 being the strongest (EF-3 up to wind speeds of 165mph,EF-4upto200mph; EF-5 winds above 200 mph).

The tornado touched down 5.5 miles southwest of Glentana at 5:47 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, moving to the northeast. It directly impacted the town site at 5:53 p.m.Itsmaximumwindspeed was 120 miles per hour with a width of 457 yards. Its track was eight miles long. Many farm outbuildings and machi...