diff --git a/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1 b/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1
index 5826815e0..91b36bebd 100644
--- a/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1
+++ b/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1
@@ -211,6 +211,10 @@ if (-not $DryRun) {
             $utf8NoBom = New-Object System.Text.UTF8Encoding($false)
             [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($specFile, $content, $utf8NoBom)
         } else {
+            # Match the bash twin (create-new-feature.sh): warn on stderr that no
+            # spec template was found before creating an empty spec file, so the
+            # missing-template signal is not silently swallowed on Windows.
+            [Console]::Error.WriteLine("Warning: Spec template not found; created empty spec file")
             New-Item -ItemType File -Path $specFile -Force | Out-Null
         }
     }
diff --git a/tests/test_timestamp_branches.py b/tests/test_timestamp_branches.py
index 6fe0c14ed..2a0a2ca69 100644
--- a/tests/test_timestamp_branches.py
+++ b/tests/test_timestamp_branches.py
@@ -332,6 +332,27 @@ class TestSequentialBranchPowerShell:
         assert data["FEATURE_NUM"] == "000"
         assert data["BRANCH_NAME"] == "000-zero"
 
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(not _has_pwsh(), reason="pwsh not installed")
+    def test_missing_spec_template_warns_matching_bash(self, ps_git_repo: Path):
+        """When no spec template can be resolved, create-new-feature.ps1 must warn on
+        stderr (and still create an empty spec file), matching the bash twin's
+        'Warning: Spec template not found; created empty spec file'. Before the fix
+        PowerShell created the empty file silently."""
+        # Remove the template the fixture installs so resolution finds nothing.
+        (ps_git_repo / ".specify" / "templates" / "spec-template.md").unlink()
+        script = ps_git_repo / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature.ps1"
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            ["pwsh", "-NoProfile", "-File", str(script),
+             "-Json", "-ShortName", "no-tmpl", "No template feature"],
+            cwd=ps_git_repo, capture_output=True, text=True, encoding="utf-8",
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert "Spec template not found" in result.stderr
+        # stdout stays parseable JSON and the empty spec file is still created.
+        data = json.loads(result.stdout)
+        spec_file = Path(data["SPEC_FILE"])
+        assert spec_file.is_file()
+
 
 # ── check_feature_branch Tests ───────────────────────────────────────────────