1 winter storm, 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 28, 9:35 PM MST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
935 PM MST SAT DEC 28 2002
.SHORT TERM...WILL DROP ALL WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES AND MAKE
SIGNIFICANT ADJUSTMENTS TO POPS AND TEMPS FOR OVERNIGHT AND SUNDAY
PERIOD. SNOW HAS ENDED ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA AND VERY LITTLE IS
EXPECTED OVERNIGHT...EXCEPT ALONG THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT.
CURRENT OBSERVATIONS AND LATEST MODEL RUNS INDICATE LITTLE SNOW AT
THIS TIME OR OVER NEXT 24 HOURS...EXCEPT IN THE GLACIER AREA AND
ALSO IN THE SOUTHWEST MONTANA MOUNTAINS. SNOW/RAIN MIX THAT FELL
EARLIER HAS CREATED IDEAL CONDITIONS FOR FOG THAT HAS DEVELOPED IN
THE GREAT FALLS AND SURROUNDING AREAS. FOG IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE
INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS.
.EXTENDED...AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF
MONTANA ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. RIDGE IS FLAT AT TIMES AND LIKELY
DIRTY. A MODERATE TO STRONG...WEST TO NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT...BECOMES
SOUTHWEST ON FRIDAY AS RIDGE AXIS SHIFTS EAST. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH
MOVES ACROSS CWA LATE FRIDAY INTO EARLY SATURDAY WITH THE FLOW ALOFT
SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST.
SURFACE TROUGHS DEVELOP ON LEE SIDE OF ROCKIES AND EJECT EAST
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON. A COLD FRONT SWEEPS
ACROSS CWA LATE FRIDAY. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS ON SATURDAY.
PROGRESSIVE PATTERN AND GENERALLY ZONAL FLOW SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE FOR
SNOW OVER WESTERN AND SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS THROUGH EXTENDED PERIOD.
THE BEST CHANCE FOR ANY PRECIPITATION OVER SOUTHWEST VALLEYS AND
NORTH CENTRAL PLAINS IS WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE AND NORTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT LATE FRIDAY. VOGELSANG
.CCF NUMBERS
GTF JE 025/030 013/026 010 07763
NEEEC 033/020 035/028 044/029 045/022 035 00011111122
CTB JE 016/023 008/024 005 07983
NEEEC 027/018 034/026 042/027 043/020 032 00011111122
HLN JE 025/035 009/027 008 07453
NEEEC 032/016 040/025 044/026 043/022 036 21011111133
BZN JE 030/034 009/021 010 07674
NEEEC 025/014 031/021 036/022 035/018 031 22222222233
WEY JJ 022/022 002/015 002 07++7
JEEEC 021/905 020/002 025/005 023/907 018 25733333333
DLN JE 028/031 011/024 011 07684
CEEEC 028/016 030/022 037/023 038/020 031 22222222233
HVR JB 020/024 010/024 003 07664
CEEEC 027/015 035/025 038/026 039/019 032 00011111122
LWT JB 024/026 012/027 010 07654
NEEEC 030/018 033/026 040/027 042/018 033 00011111122
.TFX...NONEMTZ008>015-044>055-290110- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 610 AM MST SAT DEC 28 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA .DAY ONE...TODAY A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA ABOVE 6000 FEET. A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR TONIGHT FOR THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT RANGE AND ADJACENT PLAINS. PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWTFX FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A WINTER STORM WARNING WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA ABOVE 6000 FEET. A WINTER STORM WARNING WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY FOR THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT RANGE AND ADJACENT PLAINS. PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWTFX FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy snow fell over the northern Rocky Mountain front during the early morning hours on the 29th. 8 inches of snow fell near East Glacier by 0700 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: 5321534.