1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 14, 2:50 AM MST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
250 AM MST SAT DEC 14 2002
.SHORT TERM...A FLAT UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE RESTS OVER THE
MIDWEST US AND A LOW PRESSURE TROF IS OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC. FOR
THE NEXT FEW DAYS WE WILL CONTINUE TO SEE THIS PATTERN WHICH IS
BASICALLY WINDY BUT DRY. MULTIPLE SHORTWAVES ARE MOVING EAST FROM
THIS TROF THRU THE HIGH PRESSURE. ONE SHORT WAVE SHOULD BE MOVING
OVER THE ROCKIES TODAY...AND WILL ISSUE A HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE
NORTHERN ROCKIES FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. OVERALL THE WESTERN
MOUNTAINS AND SOUTHWEST WILL SEE SCATTERED PRECIP FROM THESE SYSTEMS
BUT THE PLAINS SHOULD REMAIN DRY. ZELZER
.EXTENDED...PACIFIC BASED COLD FRONT WILL AFFECT THE REGION TUESDAY.
BEING A PACIFIC COLD FRONT...THE TEMPERATURE CHANGE WILL NOT BE
REMARKABLE. ALTHOUGH IT WILL BE ENOUGH TO GUARANTEE ANY PRECIP THAT
FALLS OVER THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE SNOW. THIS SOMEWHAT COOLER AIR MASS
WILL STAY OVER THE REGION IN SOME FORM THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD.
NOTHING ORGANIZES TO BRING PRECIPITATION TO THE PLAINS ZONES...SO
WILL KEEP FORECAST DRY GIVEN THE CURRENT TREND. POMEROY
.CCF NUMBERS
GTF EE 058/042 054/035 052 13000
EEEEE 026/040 022/030 017/031 023/035 023 11000000000
CTB EE 056/040 052/032 048 13000
EEEEE 025/037 019/029 015/029 018/030 018 11000000000
HLN EE 055/037 052/030 049 13000
CCEEE 022/038 017/030 015/028 026/033 026 113222----0
BZN EE 055/028 050/023 043 13002
CCEEE 021/037 016/028 014/027 026/033 026 22333211110
WEY EE 034/025 032/020 028 13444
CCEEE 017/028 010/018 006/018 020/021 020 44444422220
DLN EE 047/032 046/027 041 13222
CCEEE 020/036 014/025 012/025 025/031 025 22333311110
HVR EE 058/036 055/028 050 13000
EEEEE 023/037 020/028 015/023 021/024 021 11000000000
LWT EE 052/038 052/030 047 13000
EEEEE 025/037 020/029 015/027 022/027 022 11000000000
.TFX...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR ZONES 009 048 SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.MTZ008>015-044>055-140110- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 615 AM MST FRI DEC 13 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA .DAY ONE...TODAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. GUSTS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO EXCEED 60 MPH.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A high wind event occurred over the northern Rocky Mountain front late on the14th. Sustained winds of 40 to 45 mph occurred with a wind gust of 64 mph reported in Browning at 0600 MST and a 62 mph wind gust at East Glacier 2E at 1300 MST.
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, December 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: 5321531.