Name: Hail in Montana, May 10, 2001
Start: 2001-05-10T15:05
End: 2001-05-10T15:05
Location: Montana

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 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 May 10, 1:30 PM MST, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 10, 1:30 PM MST, 1 hour 35 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
230 PM MDT THU MAY 10 2001

.FRI AND SAT...

A FEW PULSE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST THIS
AFTERNOON. SPOTTERS HAVE REPORTED BRIEF DOWN-POURS AND GUSTY WINDS WITH
CELLS. FREEZING LEVELS ARE NEAR 8 THOUSAND FEET SO SMALL HAIL IS
POSSIBLE WITH CELLS AS PRECIPITATION TOPS HAVE EXTENDED UPWARDS AROUND
20 THOUSAND FEET. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS AN AMPLIFYING UPPER TROUGH
PROGRESSING ACROSS EASTERN MONTANA AND THIS WAS ACTING AS THE TRIGGER.
CAPES ARE LOW 400-600J/KG IN THE SOUTHEAST BUT LAPSE RATES REMAIN 7-
8C/KM. ENOUGH INSTABILITY THEREFORE REMAINS TO TRIGGER A FEW MORE
THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. AS THE UPPER
TROUGH EXITS THE STATE TONIGHT...NIGHTTIME COOLING WILL SET IN AND THE
ATMOSPHERE WILL STABILIZE. PRESENTLY OVER THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN
AREA...NORTHWEST WINDS WERE ALREADY TAKING SHAPE WITH A FEW LINGERING
SHOWERS.

AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS IN TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY FOR DRIER AND MUCH
WARMER CONDITIONS DURING THE SHORT TERM. MID LEVEL COLD AIR ADVECTION
SHUTS OFF TONIGHT AND WARM AIR ADVECTION BEGINS IN ERNEST FRIDAY...SO IT
WILL FEEL NOTICEABLY WARMER...ESPECIALLY SATURDAY. ETA FORECASTS 700MB
TEMPERATURES TO WARM UP TO AROUND +5 CELSIUS FRIDAY AND +10 CELSIUS
SATURDAY. MIXING THESE TO THE SURFACE MEANS MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES WILL
APPROACH 80F FRIDAY AND 90F SATURDAY. THIS IS WELL ABOVE NORMAL. RECORDS
FOR SATURDAY ARE...BILLINGS 94F...MILES CITY 96F AND SHERIDAN 95F. IT/LL
BE CLOSE BUT WILL NOT HIGHLIGHT. CANEPA

.SUN...MON...TUE...WED...THU...
PACIFIC SYSTEM BEGINS TO FLATTEN THE  DOMINATING RIDGE WITH
TEMPERATURES  COOLING BOTH SUNDAY AND EVEN MORE MONDAY AS A
COOL FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. BEST CHANCES FOR SHOWERS
THIS EXTENDED PERIOD WILL BE AS THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH  ON
MONDAY.  THE RIDGE SETS UP WEST OF MONTANA THE REMAINDER OF
THE EXTENDED PERIOD  WITH TEMPERATURES ONLY INTO THE 70S AS
COOLER CANADIAN AIR MOVES INTO  THE AREA EAST OF THE DIVIDE
WITH A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES.
THORICHT

    FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 042/080 053/090 051/084 049/077 046/074 046/074 045/072
    20/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    22/B    22/B    22/B
LVM 037/082 051/091 049/082 048/075 044/072 045/072 044/070
    00/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    22/B    22/B    22/B
HDN 038/081 051/091 048/085 047/078 045/075 045/075 044/073
    20/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    22/B    22/B    22/B
MLS 042/079 050/090 053/086 053/079 048/075 046/074 045/074
    60/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    11/B    11/B    22/B
4BQ 043/078 049/088 051/083 052/078 045/073 044/072 043/072
    60/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    11/B    11/B    22/B
BHK 040/077 047/087 050/081 050/076 044/072 045/072 042/070
    60/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    11/B    11/B    22/B
SHR 035/079 046/090 049/082 048/075 044/074 043/073 042/071
    20/U    00/U    22/B    33/W    22/B    22/B    22/B

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Powder River

When: May 10, 3:05 PM MST
Where: Powder River County, Broadus
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.450, -105.417

0.75 hail reported by spotter

What these are

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

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, May 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: 5241825.