1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 16, 9:04 AM MST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1004 AM MDT WED MAY 16 2001
.TDY AND THU...
ZONES WILL BE UPDATED BY 1145 AM TO REFRESH WORDING. STRONG JET INDUCED
LIFT HAS GENERATED AREAS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH
CENTRAL MONTANA. THIS AREA WILL MOVE RAPIDLY INTO SOUTHEAST MONTANA AT
AROUND NOON. THE SYSTEM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HIGH WINDS THIS AFTERNOON
HAS JUST MOVED INTO WESTERN MONTANA AND WILL REACH MY FORECAST AREA BY
MID AFTERNOON TODAY. THIS IS A MARGINAL HIGH WIND SENERIO...SO
VERIFYING THE HIGH WIND WARNING CURRENTLY IN EFFECT WILL BE DIFFICULT
TODAY. MY MAIN CONCERN IS THAT THE JET DYNAMICS ARE NOT QUITE STRONG
ENOUGH FOR HIGH WINDS. I WILL KEEP THE HIGH WIND WARNING UP FOR THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL MORE INFORMATION COMES IN. MIDDENDORF
.FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...
GOOD AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE 00Z AVN AND ECMWF. FRIDAY WESTERLY FLOW
SHOULD REMAIN OVER AREA. AVN DOES SLIDE A WEAK WAVE ACROSS AREA...THIS
SHOULD BRING AT LEAST SOME CLOUDS BUT TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO
THURSDAY'S...AND CURRENT NUMBERS LOOK IN THE BALL PARK. SATURDAY...
HEIGHTS FORECASTED BY ECMWF AND AVN TO LOWER AS TROUGH DIGS OVER AREA.
COLD FRONT MOVES IN FROM THE NORTH FRIDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY FOR COOLER
TEMPERATURES AND CHANCE OF SHOWERS. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS GOOD AND WILL
BE MAKING NO CHANGES. RASCH
TDY THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 065 039/069 043/069 043/071 043/060 040/056 038/060
6/N 00/U 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/W
LVM 061 035/066 038/066 040/068 040/057 037/054 039/054
6/N 00/U 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/W
HDN 067 038/070 040/070 041/073 041/062 039/058 037/062
6/N 00/U 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/W
MLS 070 040/070 044/070 044/072 046/063 046/059 043/064
6/N 00/B 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/W
4BQ 070 040/070 043/069 043/074 042/063 039/059 037/062
6/N 00/B 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/W
BHK 070 039/070 042/068 042/070 044/061 044/057 040/062
6/N 00/B 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/W
@SHR 067 035/069 040/068 040/073 040/062 037/056 035/060
6/N 00/U 11/B 12/E 34/W 43/W 33/WThe Billings radar (KBLX), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:58 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Three men suffered minor injuries when lightning struck their truck as they were crack sealing on Interstate 94.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, May 2001
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: 5241826.