Winds causing some problems at 75 mph plus.

Strong winds this afternoon have caused some rather large trees to come down around the area and in a couple of situations, trees fell on power lines.

A 15-inch spruce tree knocked over by the wind in Great Falls caused power outages.  Glacier Electric Cooperative in Cut Bank said a rather large tree fell on power lines at 3rd Ave. SW causing a minor power outage.    Firefighters in Cut Bank were called to a house fire just after 2pm.   The fire department says it was a pile of trash that caught fire on the porch of the residential home and it was put out quickly.

Marias River Electric in Shelby confirmed power was out at the Marias Valley Golf Course but Marias river crews were still searching for the cause.

The Montana Department of Transportation said the extremely strong winds in the Shelby, Dupuyer, Conrad, Cut Bank, Browning, St. Mary and Sunburst areas are causing semi-trucks to blow over.  One semi-truck blew over at Sweetgrass, blocking southbound traffic for a short time.

Strongest winds so far had 76 mph at Deep Creek, just outside E. Glacier, Sunburst 61 mph, Cut Bank 66 mph, Choteau 58 mph, Browning and Heart Butte 58 mph and Chester 53 mph.    In Shelby the strongest wind gust we could confirm was 44 mph.