1 high wind, 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 Dec 27, 8:35 AM MST, 4 hours 35 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
835 AM MST FRI DEC 27 2002
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND SAT...
NO UPDATE TO THE AFP. EXTENSIVE FETCH OF MOISTURE HEADING INTO WESTERN
MONTANA WILL BRING SNOW TO THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS TODAY. HOWEVER STRONG
WESTERLY WINDS COUPLED WITH MID LEVEL COLD AIR ADVECTION WILL PREVENT
THE PRECIPITATION FROM FALLING EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS. WINDS ARE THE
BIGGER CONCERN. 800-700MB FLOW PER ACARS THIS MORNING WERE AROUND
30-40KTS...VERY CLOSE TO THE MODEL INITIALIZATION. WINDS WILL
INCREASE TO 50-60KTS OVER MUCH OF THE CWA TODAY. 850-700MB COLD AIR
ADVECTION IN THE WEST WILL ALLOW FOR GOOD MIXING TODAY. SO GAP FLOW
CONDITIONS WILL BE MINIMIZED...BUT STRONG WINDS MIXING DOWN TO THE
SURFACE STILL LEAVES THE POTENTIAL FOR HIGH WIND CRITERIA TO BE MET NEAR
LIVINGSTON. WILL LEAVE THE WARNING GOING...BUT DROP THE WINDS TO JUST
AT HIGH WIND CRITERIA. ACARS SHOWED SIGNIFICANT NEAR SURFACE
INVERSIONS THIS MORNING...WHICH WONT BREAK UNLESS TEMPERATURES MAKE IT
INTO THE 50S. THE LACK OF 850MB COLD AIR ADVECTION TO BREAK THE
INVERSION IN THE EAST WILL PREVENT MOST OF THE STRONGER WINDS FROM
MIXING DOWN. WILL ADJUST WINDS FOR THIS MORNING...AND LEAVE 15 TO 25 MPH
FOR THIS AFTERNOON. MOORE
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SUN...MON...TUE...WED...THU...
VERY FEW CHANGES WITH THIS EXTENDED PACKAGE. IT STILL LOOKS AS IF SNOW
MAY MAKE A RETURN ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA...AS
WELL AS NORTHERN WYOMING SUNDAY INTO MONDAY. ALTHOUGH CONFIDENCE IS LOW
AS TO THE EXTENT OF THE SNOW. A LARGE STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE ONTO THE
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST DURING THE DAY ON SATURDAY AND MOVE NORTHEAST
TOWARD THE FORECAST AREA SATURDAY NIGHT. AS IT DOES...IT WILL WEAKEN
SOMEWHAT BUT STILL REMAIN A FAIRLY STRONG TROUGH BY THE TIME IT ARRIVES
TO OUR WESTERN AREAS EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. THIS WAVE WILL QUICKLY MOVE
INTO NORTH DAKOTA BY SUNDAY EVENING FOLLOWED BY A SECOND BUT WEAKER WAVE
SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. A SHOT OF COLD AIR WILL ARRIVE AFTER
THE PASSAGE OF THE FIRST WAVE. HOWEVER...THE COLD AIR DOES NOT LOOK TO
ARRIVE UNTIL LATE SUNDAY. THEREFORE...WILL RAISE TEMPERATURES ACROSS
MOST AREAS A COUPLE DEGREES FOR SUNDAY. IN ADDITION...SURFACE LOW THAT
WAS PLACED OVER NORTHERN WYOMING LAST NIGHT IS NOW PLACED TO THE NORTH
OF OUR FORECAST AREA. THIS WOULD RESULT IN NORTHWEST WINDS PROVIDING FOR
DOWNSLOPING CONDITIONS SUNDAY AFTERNOON. MAIN CONCERN FOR SUNDAY LOOKS
TO BE THE WINDS AS PRESSURE GRADIENTS WILL BE VERY TIGHT THROUGHOUT THE
DAY. THEREFORE...I WILL MAKE A FEW CHANGES TO THE GRIDS TO REFLECT THIS
AS NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH LOOK POSSIBLE. THIS COMBINED WITH ANY
FALLING SNOW WOULD CREATE VERY LOW VISIBILITIES.
MONDAY...SUNDAYS SYSTEM IS A FAST MOVER AND WILL BE WELL EAST OF THE
STATE BY MONDAY AFTERNOON...ALLOWING FOR A WEAK RIDGE TO MOVE INTO
THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. FLOW WILL BECOME WESTERLY
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY BEFORE TURNING MORE NORTHWESTERLY THURSDAY AND
FRIDAY AS A STRONGER RIDGE MOVES OVER THE AREA BY FRIDAY. WEAK WAVES
WILL MOVE THROUGH THE FLOW THROUGH THURSDAY BUT CONDITIONS LOOK TO
REMAIN DRY WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND
TEMPERATURES VERY CLOSE TO NORMAL. HOOLEY
TDY SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 046 030/044 022/035 015/031 015/033 016/030 017/034
0/E 02/W 33/S 30/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
LVM 045 028/041 019/032 012/029 012/031 013/028 014/032
0/N 02/W 44/S 30/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
HDN 045 028/043 021/035 014/032 014/034 017/031 016/034
0/E 00/E 34/S 30/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
MLS 043 025/041 019/033 012/029 012/032 015/029 014/032
0/E 00/B 24/S 30/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
4BQ 045 025/043 022/036 014/030 014/033 014/031 013/033
0/E 00/B 04/S 40/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
BHK 041 022/039 017/033 010/020 010/030 013/027 011/030
0/E 00/B 24/S 40/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
SHR 046 022/044 021/036 014/030 014/032 016/030 015/033
0/E 00/E 34/S 40/E 00/E 00/E 00/E
.BYZ...
MT...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR TODAY FOR ZONES MTZ040>041.
WY...NONE.MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-281200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 754 AM MST FRI DEC 27 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE... STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 40 TO 50 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE VALLEY TODAY BEFORE SUBSIDING THIS EVENING. REFER TO GTFNPWBYZ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE JZ
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
53 mph sustained winds at the East Livingston Dept. of Transportation Site
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: 5322778.