Name: Hail in Montana, July 22, 2002
Start: 2002-07-22T21:50
End: 2002-07-22T21:52
Location: Montana

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jul 22, 7:10 PM MST, 2 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 22, 7:10 PM MST, 2 hours 40 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
810 PM MDT MON JUL 22 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TUE...WED...THU...
NO UPDATES TO AFP...UPDATES TO ZFP. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY MOVING THROUGH
SOUTHERN ZONES AS EXPECTED THIS EVENING AND SHOULD GRADUALLY WORK EAST
OVER THE COURSE OF THE EVENING. FORECAST IN GOOD SHAPE HANDLING TIMING
AND COVERAGE OF STORMS SO NO CHANGES NECESSARY AT THIS TIME TO POPS.
WINDS HAVE REMAINED BREEZY ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING AND WILL STAY
THAT WAY TILL AROUND MIDNIGHT OR SO...SO WILL FRESHEN WORDING TO ACCOUNT
FOR THIS. MINOR CHANGES TO ZONES ON THE WAY. MACZKO

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...
THURSDAY...UPPER FLOW REMAINS OUT OF THE WEST TO NORTHWEST OVER THE
AREA. SOME SHORTWAVE ENERGY PROGGED TO TRANSLATE THROUGH FLOW DURING
THE DAY...AND ATMOSPHERE DESTABILIZES DURING THE AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...
FLOW REMAINS DOWNSLOPE THROUGH 700MB AND UNFAVORABLE JET DYNAMICS IN
LEFT ENTRANCE REGION SHOULD LIMIT THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL ACROSS THE
AREA. WILL TRIM BACK TO ISOLATED POPS ALL BUT MOUNTAIN AREAS. WITH
DOWNSLOPE FLOW TEMPS SHOULD BE ABLE TO MIX DOWN FROM 700MB...SO TEMPS
WILL BE AT OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL. SHORTWAVE ENERGY CONTINUES TO
TRANSLATE THROUGH ZONAL FLOW ON FRIDAY. ENERGY CURRENTLY PROGGED TO
AFFECT MAINLY THE SOUTHERN AREA OF CWA...BUT WILL CONTINUE TO BROADBRUSH
SCATTERED POPS AS ATMOSPHERE DESTABILIZES OVER ENTIRE CWA. SATURDAY INTO
SUNDAY AXIS OF UPPER LOW CENTERED IN CANADA ROTATES THROUGH MONTANA
BRINGING A COOL DOWN AND ANOTHER CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION. ECMWF SHOWING
SIMILAR SCENARIO TO THE EXTENDED AVN...SO WILL TREND TOWARD THIS
SCENARIO. RIDGE BEGINS TO REBOUND INTO MONTANA FOR MONDAY...FOR DRIER
AND SLIGHTLY WARMER WEATHER. JZ

    TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 055/090 061/091 059/086 062/086 060/085 059/083 060/085
    32/T    70/B    22/T    23/T    30/B    33/T    00/B
LVM 052/085 057/084 053/083 056/084 054/082 052/082 054/084
    35/T    52/T    23/T    33/T    30/B    33/T    00/B
HDN 056/091 061/091 057/088 060/088 058/086 058/084 059/084
    30/B    70/B    22/T    23/T    30/B    33/T    00/B
MLS 060/090 064/092 060/090 065/089 062/086 060/083 061/083
    20/B    77/T    32/T    23/T    30/B    33/T    00/B
4BQ 061/092 063/094 059/090 064/088 060/087 058/085 060/083
    32/T    77/T    22/T    23/T    30/B    33/T    00/B
BHK 057/088 059/090 058/088 061/085 057/085 055/081 057/080
    22/T    77/T    32/T    23/T    30/B    33/T    00/B
SHR 055/091 059/093 056/088 060/085 057/085 057/082 058/085
    40/E    70/G    23/T    33/T    30/B    33/T    00/B

.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 157 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:49 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Rosebud

When: July 22, 9:50 PM MST
Where: Rosebud County, Colstrip
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.883, -106.583

Hail, Rosebud

When: July 22, 9:52 PM MST
Where: Rosebud County, Colstrip
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.883, -106.583

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, July 2002

Sources

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: 5304170, 5304171.