Montana, 1997

Tornado in Montana, July 20, 1997

July 20, 1997 · NWS BYZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

sited by public. Length and path not know.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BYZ wrote it up.

very brief touchdown...sited by public. Length and path not know.

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Yellowstone

When
July 20, 3:50 PM MST to 4:55 PM MST
Where
Yellowstone County, 7 mi S of Laurel
Rating
F0
Coordinates
45.580, -108.770

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Montana, 1997Warnings in Montana, July 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5604794.