Name: Flash Flood in Montana, July 14, 2001
Start: 2001-07-14T20:30
End: 2001-07-14T20:30
Location: Montana

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Jul 14, 8:23 PM MST, 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 14, 8:23 PM MST, 7 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
451 PM MDT SAT JUL 14 2001

.SUN AND MON...
THUNDERSTORMS ON THE DOWNTURN OVERALL OVER EASTERN ZONES. STILL SOME
WEAK ACTIVITY DOWNSTREAM WITH NEW ETA SHOWING MAIN WAVE TO MOVE UP
INTO SOUTHWEST MONTANA AROUND 12Z SUNDAY MORNING. SHOULD BE ABLE TO
LOWER POPS WESTERN ZONES...BUT WILL LEAVE AS IS IN EASTERN ZONES FOR
NOW. WILL AT IT WILL CLEAR SOME ZONES FROM THE WATCH. RASCH

.TUE...WED...THU...FRI...SAT...

MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE FOR THE ENTIRE EXTENDED
PERIOD...BRINGING A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. WITH THE UPPER
LEVEL TROF MOVING INTO THE AREA...TEMPERATURES BECOME SLIGHTLY BELOW
NORMAL BY THE END OF THE PERIOD. MIDDENDORF

    SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 062/087 062/092 064/085 063/082 062/082 060/082 060/083
    24/T    44/T    44/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T
LVM 055/085 057/090 057/084 056/081 055/081 053/081 053/082
    34/T    44/T    44/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T
HDN 060/089 060/094 061/089 060/086 059/086 059/085 059/086
    24/T    44/T    44/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T
MLS 065/093 065/096 065/092 065/090 064/089 062/088 062/089
    74/T    44/T    44/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T
4BQ 064/092 064/095 064/090 063/088 062/087 060/086 060/087
    74/T    44/T    44/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T
BHK 063/091 063/094 064/089 063/087 062/086 060/085 060/086
    74/T    44/T    44/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T
SHR 058/089 059/091 060/090 059/088 058/087 058/086 058/087
    44/T    44/T    44R/T    44/T    43/T    33/T    33/T

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Big Horn

When: July 14, 8:30 PM MST
Where: Big Horn County, Decker
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.424, -107.490 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

145 feet of road bed washed out beneath the Burlington/Northern Railroad tracks...2 feet of water over the tracks

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, July 2001

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: 5259287.