1 flash flood, 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 Aug 23, 1:40 PM MST, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
240 PM MDT FRI AUG 23 2002
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR SAT AND SUN...
PESKY UPPER LOW HAS RETROGRADED TO EASTERN OREGON. FORECAST AREA REMAINS
IN A SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST FLOW. UPPER DIFFLUENT PATTERN LOCKED INTO
SOUTHERN MONTANA. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN THIS DIFFLUENT
PATTERN. ETA TAKES SHORTWAVE INTO SOUTHEAST MONTANA TONIGHT AND LEAVES
THE NORTHERN PART OF THE AREA BASICALLY UNAFFECTED. WILL PAINT HIGHER
POPS IN THE SOUTHERN ZONES AS THE UPPER LOW HAS PUSHED THE DEFORMATION
ZONE FARTHER SOUTH. AIRMASS HAS DRIED JUST A BIT...BUT FLOW STILL VERY
LIGHT. STORMS SHOULD BE SLOW MOVERS AND POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN EXISTS
AGAIN TODAY. UPPER LOW SITS OVER OREGON FOR SATURDAY. DEFORMATION ZONE
SHOULD PUSH FARTHER NORTH AGAIN AND KEEP THE CHANCE POPS GOING. THE
UPPER LOW THEN IS FORECAST TO FILL AND SLIDE ACROSS NORTHERN MONTANA
SUNDAY. THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH YESTERDAYS SOLUTION. FLOW WOULD TURN
DOWNSLOPE FOR SOUTHERN MONTANA AND CUT OFF THE MOISTURE FEED. ETA SENDS
ALL THE QPF NORTH ON SUNDAY. THE WHOLE RESOLUTION TO THIS UPPER LOW
SEEMS TOO FAST TO ME...BUT THE MODELS ARE CONSISTENT. FORECAST CURRENTLY
HAS LOW POPS DUE TO UPPER LOW UNCERTAINLY. WILL ELECT TO KEEP LOW POPS
IN FOR NOW AND SEE HOW FUTURE MODEL RUNS RESOLVE THIS PATTERN. HUMPHREY
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...
MON & TUE...EXTENDED TROUGH AND AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL STRETCH FROM
NORTH DAKOTA EASTWARD INTO WASHINGTON. CONDITIONS SHOULD BE DRY FOR MON
AS MOST OF THE UPPER LEVEL ENERGY WILL REMAIN JUST TO OUR NORTH AND
DOWNSLOPE WINDS WILL BE IN PLACE. BY TUE...LOW PRESSURE OVER WASHINGTON
CLOSES OFF AND SLOWLY SHIFTS SOUTHWEST WHILE A SURFACE LOW WILL DEVELOP
OVER EASTERN WYOMING. THIS SURFACE LOW WILL PRODUCE AN UPSLOPE FLOW
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. AT THE SAME TIME...AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE WILL
MOVE SOUTH OUT OF CANADA. THIS WILL ALL COMBINE TO BRING A DECENT SHOT
FOR PRECIP ACROSS PARTS OF THE FORECAST AREA. THE UNCERTAINLY LIES IN
WHICH AREAS WILL GET THE MOST ACTIVITY AS THE LATEST MODEL RUNS ARE NOT
CONSISTENT.
WED THRU FRI...CONFIDENCE LEVEL IS LOW AS MODELS DIVERGE WITH UPPER
LEVEL PATTERN. BEST SCENARIO LOOKS TO BE THE MRF WITH A CLOSED LOW OFF
THE CALIFORNIA COAST AND ANOTHER TROUGH MOVING ONTO THE PAC NW COAST
WILL COMBINE TO BRING A WEST TO SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. HOWEVER...EVEN
THOUGH A FEW MINOR WAVES WILL MOVE THROUGH THIS FLOW...THE LOWER LEVELS
LOOK TO BE DRY AND THEREFORE NO PRECIP IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOOLEY
SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 055/080 055/082 053/078 053/073 051/081 053/083 054/083
34/T 42/T 20/E 03/T 30/B 00/B 00/B
LVM 047/078 047/080 047/076 045/077 044/081 047/082 047/082
44/T 42/T 20/E 03/T 30/B 00/B 00/B
HDN 053/082 053/083 051/080 047/081 046/084 049/085 049/085
33/T 32/T 20/E 03/T 30/B 00/B 00/B
MLS 058/084 058/085 056/079 053/077 051/083 055/085 055/085
34/T 42/T 20/E 03/T 30/B 00/B 00/B
4BQ 057/083 057/084 055/080 053/081 052/081 055/082 055/082
44/T 42/T 20/B 03/T 30/E 00/B 00/E
BHK 056/082 056/083 054/079 050/080 049/079 052/080 052/080
34/T 42/T 20/E 03/T 30/B 00/B 00/E
SHR 050/082 050/083 048/080 047/075 049/080 050/082 051/082
44/T 42/T 20/B 03/T 30/E 00/B 00/E
.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.The Billings radar (KBLX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:00 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water was running across Old Dump Road. Road closed for 2 hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, August 2002
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: 5314984.