Flash Flooding and Hail in Montana, June 30, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding and Hail in Montana, June 30, 2001
Start: 2001-06-30T00:00
End: 2001-06-30T01:45
Location: Montana

June 30, 2001 · NWS BYZ · 7 events in 2 counties and zones

4 hail, 3 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 7

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 Jun 29, 7:46 PM MST, 4 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 29, 7:46 PM MST, 4 hours 14 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
846 PM MDT FRI JUN 29 2001

.SAT AND SUN...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH STILL CONTINUES IN THE WESTERN ZONES UNTIL
1100 PM. SUBTLE SHORTWAVE SEEN ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY MIGHT HELP BREAK
THE CAP FOR CONVECTIVE INITIATION. SO FAR...JUST SOME WEAK CONVECTION...
WHICH COULD HELP TO ERODE THE CAP. THE NEW ETA APPEARS TO KEEP THE MAIN
ACTION NORTH OF THE MT/WY BORDER. THEREFORE WILL UPDATE THE WYOMING
ZONES TO BRING DOWN THE POPS. OTHERWISE...NO OTHER UPDATES. STROBIN

.MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...
MID CONTINENT RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE WEST AND CENTER NEAR THE
WEST COAST BY WEDNESDAY. A CANADIAN COOL FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE MID
SECTION OF THE U.S. BEGINNING WEDNESDAY. THIS WILL BRING THE WARMEST DAY
TO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES ON TUESDAY WITH COOLING THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF
THE WEEK. AS THE RIDGE SHIFTS WEST...SUBSIDENCE IN THE RIDGE WILL LIMIT
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT TO MAINLY DRY CONDITIONS THROUGH THURSDAY
WITH INCREASING CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY AS A WARMER RETURN FLOW
DEVELOPS ACROSS THE AREA. GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES WERE A BIT TOO LOW FOR
TUESDAY AND WENT WITH LOCALLY DEVELOPED NUMBERS INSTEAD. THORICHT

    SAT     SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 063/082 062/083 058/082 056/086 057/083 056/082 054/083
    44/T    43/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
LVM 055/082 055/081 055/080 052/082 053/080 052/079 050/080
    33/T    33/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
HDN 061/083 060/085 057/084 054/088 055/085 053/084 051/084
    44/T    43/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
MLS 065/084 064/085 059/085 060/088 059/083 055/082 054/084
    33/T    64/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
4BQ 065/084 063/083 058/083 058/087 057/082 054/081 053/083
    33/T    64/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
BHK 063/084 062/083 066/081 055/085 055/081 053/080 052/081
    33/T    64/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T
SHR 060/084 057/085 055/081 054/086 052/081 051/080 050/082
    33/T    43/T    22/B    22/B    22/B    22/B    33/T

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 184 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:01 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Rosebud

When: June 30, 12:00 AM MST
Where: Rosebud County, Ashland
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.600, -106.267

Hail covered the ground. Several broken windows.

Flash Flood, Rosebud

When: June 30, 12:00 AM MST
Where: Rosebud County, Colstrip
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 46.230, -106.731 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

3 feet of water covered Olive Street

Hail, Rosebud

When: June 30, 12:05 AM MST
Where: Rosebud County, Ashland
Measured: 2.5 in hail
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 45.600, -106.267

Baseball size hail covered the ground on the north side of town. Multiple windows broken and some structural damage. A large thunderstorm moved over the town of Ashland, Montana at about 1 a.m. on the morning of June 30th. The storm reached a height more than 13 miles high or about 70 thousand feet. In addition to the baseball size hail...the storm produced winds up to 80 miles per hour. As a result...there were many smashed windows and windshields...as well as...trees stripped of branches, bark, and leaves. In addition...many birds were also knocked out of trees and killed. The St. Labre School in Ashland was damaged with many windows smashed.

Flash Flood, Rosebud

When: June 30, 12:15 AM MST
Where: Rosebud County, Ashland
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 46.230, -106.731 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several roads washed out

Hail, Powder River

When: June 30, 1:20 AM MST
Where: Powder River County, 8 mi SW of Biddle
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.017, -105.467

Hail covered the ground

Hail, Powder River

When: June 30, 1:20 AM MST
Where: Powder River County, Biddle
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.100, -105.350

Hail covered the ground. Some broken windows.

Flash Flood, Powder River

When: June 30, 1:45 AM MST
Where: Powder River County, 40 mi W of Broadus
Reported by: PARK/FOREST SERVICE
Coordinates: 45.395, -105.630 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Logs were floating across Otter Creek Road

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
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

Every storm in Montana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, June 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: 5249998, 5249999, 5250000, 5250001, 5250002, 5250003, 5250004.