Alert archive / Montana / Flash Flood Warnings in 2001

Flash Flood Warning 18, NWS Billings, MT

July 17, 2001Custer County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this flash flood warning at Jul 17, 2001, 11:42 PM MDT for Custer County, Montana. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 17, 2001, 11:42 PM MDT (05:42 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2001, 1:45 AM MDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Custer County, MT

The radar

The Glasgow radar (KGGW), 231 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:44 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Glasgow Intl Airport, MT (KGGW), launched 00:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 232 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 339 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -104 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2182 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 72 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WGUS55 KBYZ 180542
FFWBIL
FFWBIL
MTC017-180745-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1142 PM MDT TUE JUL 17 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BILLINGS HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN CUSTER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MONTANA

* UNTIL 145 AM MDT

* AT 1142 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR            
  INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER THE       
  WARNED AREA.

* THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONTINUOUSLY REDEVELOPING OVER THE WARNED AREA...
  RESULTING IN EXCESSIVE RAINFALL.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.

$$

SCARLETT

LAT...LON 4674 10559 4645 10534 4649 10612 4685 10609

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 17, 8:10 PM MDT, 3 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 8:10 PM MDT, 3 hours 32 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
810 PM MDT TUE JUL 17 2001

.WED AND THU...
WILL CLEAR OUT WESTERN ZONES OUT OF WATCH WITH AN SPS. SEVERE WEATHER
THREAT PRIMARILY WILL BE IN FAR EASTERN ZONES...BUT WITH SFC HEATING
DECREASING STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO WEAKEN. MAY SEE AN ISOLATED SEVERE
STORM BEFORE 10 PM IN REMAIN WATCH ZONES.

WILL MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO POPS TO REFLECT TRENDS. TEMPS LOOK GOOD.
SCARLETT

.FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...
THE UPPER TROUGH OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST SPLITS WITH ENERGY SINKING
SOUTHWARD TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA OVER THE WEEKEND. THIS IN TURN
INCREASES THE UPPER RIDGE A LITTLE OVER MONTANA...NET RESULT...WARMING
TEMPERATURES. WITH THE FLOW ALOFT FROM THE SOUTHWEST...AFTERNOON AND
EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE. BEST CHANCES APPEAR EARLY ON AS PART
OF THE SPLIT ENERGY TRAVERSES OUR AREA FRIDAY. TOWARD THE END OF THE
EXTENDED...THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TROUGH LIFTS OUT TO THE NORTHEAST
ONCE AGAIN GIVING US A BETTER CHANCE OF LATE DAY STORMS. CANEPA

    WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 058/081 056/085 058/085 060/085 060/088 060/088 057/083
    33/T    32/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
LVM 050/078 048/082 054/082 056/084 056/087 056/087 055/084
    33/T    33/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
HDN 056/083 054/087 057/087 059/087 059/090 059/090 058/087
    33/T    32/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
MLS 060/086 060/090 060/088 062/088 062/091 062/091 059/085
    33/T    32/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
4BQ 059/085 059/089 059/088 061/088 061/091 061/091 058/087
    33/T    32/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
BHK 058/084 058/088 058/087 060/087 060/090 060/090 056/088
    33/T    32/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
SHR 052/083 050/087 056/08T5 058/085 058/088 058/088 053/083
    23/T    33/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 17, 8:20 PM MDT, 3 hours 22 minutes before

MTZ028>030-034-035-038>042-056-057-180400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
820 PM MDT TUE JUL 17 2001

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 10 PM MDT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH
   CENTRAL AND CENTRAL MONTANA HAS BEEN CANCELED...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MONTANA HAS BEEN
CANCELED. COUNTIES CLEARED FROM THE WATCH ARE...PARK...SWEET GRASS...
WHEATLAND...GOLDEN VALLEY...STILLWATER...CAhRBON...BIG HORN...
YELLOWSTONE...MUSSELSHELL AND TREASURE. THUNDERSTORMS IN THESE AREAS
HAVE WEAKENED...AND THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS DIMINISHED.

Local storm report, Jul 17, 10:15 PM MDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS, MT
1015 PM MDT TUE JUL 17 2001

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0155 PM    10 S TWO DOT              MT   1.00 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   WHEATLAND

0205 PM    10 S TWO DOT              MT   1.00 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   WHEATLAND

0220 PM    HARLOWTON                 MT   .75 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   WHEATLAND

0230 PM    HARLOWTON                 MT   .88 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   WHEATLAND

0313 PM    1 W MELVILLE              MT   .75 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   SWEET GRASS

0328 PM    18 NW RYEGATE             MT   .75 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   GOLDEN VALLEY

0420 PM    27 N LAVINA               MT   .88 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   MUSSELSHELL                    NICKEL SIZE HAIL 2 FEET
                                          DEEP

0700 PM    15 N SUMATRA              MT   .75 INCH HAIL
07/17/01   ROSEBUD

0800 PM    MELSTONE                  MT   FLOOD
07/17/01   MUSSELSHELL                    3-4 FEET OF WATER RUNNING
                                          OVER HIGHWAY. FLOODING
                                          LASTED UNTIL 1000 PM MDT.

JRS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Billings, MT issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 6:34 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	56 min
Jul 17, 6:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Big Horn	65 min
Jul 17, 11:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer	64 min
Jul 18, 12:32 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer	58 min
Jul 18, 1:52 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Fallon	53 min
Jul 18, 3:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Big Horn	63 min
Jul 18, 4:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Musselshell, Rosebud	57 min
Jul 18, 4:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	61 min
Jul 18, 5:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer	44 min
Jul 18, 5:25 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	3 hr
Jul 18, 5:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	35 min
Jul 18, 5:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Carter, Fallon	57 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Montana, 2001 Every flash flood warning in 2001

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.