Name: Winter Storm in Montana, June 8 to 10, 2002
Start: 2002-06-08T06:00
End: 2002-06-10T22:00
Location: Montana

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $3.2 million
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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 8, 2:01 AM MST, 3 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 8, 2:01 AM MST, 3 hours 59 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
301 AM MDT SAT JUN 8 2002

.SHORT TERM...CORRECTED CCF NUMBERS FOR HVR AND LWT...UPPER LEVEL LOW
PRESSURE IS OVER THE BORDER OF WA AND CANADA. MODELS MOVE IT OVER
SOUTHERN IDAHO BY LATE SATURDAY. THE LOW BEGINS TO PULL OUT AND MOVE
WEST ON MONDAY...AND PATH APPEARS TO MOVES DIRECTLY OVER THE CWA. AT
THE SURFACE UPSLOPE CONDITIONS ARE ALREADY IN PLACE AND BECOME QUITE
STRONG ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES LATER TODAY...AND CONTINUES THRU
MONDAY. THIS SHOULD KEEP AIRMASS CLOSE TO SATURATION WITH HIGH POPS
IN THE FORECAST. THE AIRMASS BECOMES SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE IN THE
SOUTHWEST THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL MENTION THUNDERSTORMS OVER THAT
AREA. WILL DELAY THE WINTER STORM WATCH UNTIL EARLY SUNDAY BECAUSE OF
WEAKER LOOKING PRECIP PATTERN...OTHERWISE WILL NOT BE MAKING ANY BIG
CHANGES IN THE CURRENT FORECAST.

.EXTENDED...LOW PRESSURE CENTER MOVES OVER SOUTHERN SASK BY TUESDAY
BUT NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL REMAIN OVER MUCH OF THE CWA. PRECIP
SHOULD BECOME SHOWERY AT THIS POINT. WILL SEE GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT
AFTER TUE...DRY AND WARMER...AS A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE BUILDS OVER
WESTERN MT.  CURRENT EXTENDED FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. ZELZER

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF RR 052/037 046/036 048 13989
    RRBBB 038/060 044/067 044/072 045/075 045 87781111111
CTB RR 046/035 046/035 046 13+98
    RWBBB 035/060 044/067 044/070 045/073 045 77761111111
HLN RR 058/040 052/040 055 13878
    RWBBB 042/064 046/072 046/073 046/076 046 77752211111
BZN RR 060/038 055/039 053 13768
    RCBBB 040/063 043/071 043/071 044/074 044 67642211111
WEY RR 052/032 048/030 048 13768
    RCBBB 032/055 035/064 036/065 036/067 036 67642211111
DLN RR 060/034 051/035 052 13768
    RBBBB 038/068 042/071 043/072 043/072 043 67611111111
HVR RR 056/042 052/040 054 14+88
    RRBBB 044/062 046/070 048/074 050/078 050 77991111111
LWT RR 054/038 046/038 052 14878
    RRBBB 040/058 042/065 044/071 044/073 044 77991111111

.TFX...WINTER STORM WARNING SAT THROUGH SUN NRN ROCKY MTN FRONT
       ABOVE 5000 FEET (ZONE 9)
    ...WINTER STORM WATCH EARLY SUN SAT THROUGH SUN NIGHT FOR THE SRN
       ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND SRN LEWIS AND CLARK AND JEFFERSON
       COUNTIES ABOVE 5000 FEET (MTZ014-048-052)

Event by event

2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, North Rocky Mountain Front

When: June 8, 6:00 AM MST to June 10, 10:00 PM MST
Where: North Rocky Mountain Front forecast zone
Property damage: $1.6 million
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

A major late season winter storm affected much of the Rocky Mountain Front from June 8th to June 10th. The snow began to fall at higher elevations on Friday evening, with rain at the lower elevations. Buy Saturday morning, heavy snow was falling across the entire Rocky Mountain Front. The snow was heavy at times throughout Saturday. On Saturday night, blizzard conditions were experienced over the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. The snow began to diminish in intensity on Monday evening. By then, snow accumulations ranged from 3 to 4 feet over the Plains, to 5 to 7 feet above 5000 feet.This snow had a very high moisture content, which caused 301 power poles to break, 232 power pole cross arms to snap off, 521 splices, and over 30 miles of destroyed power lines. The power was out to over 2,500 customers, some for several days. Roads were closed over the entire Rocky Mountain Front region for 2 days. The deep snow cover resulted in the loss of over 3,200 livestock.

Winter Storm, Southern Rocky Mountain Front

When: June 8, 6:00 AM MST to June 10, 10:00 PM MST
Where: Southern Rocky Mountain Front forecast zone
Property damage: $1.6 million
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

A major late season winter storm affected much of the Rocky Mountain Front from June 8th to June 10th. The snow began to fall at higher elevations on Friday evening, with rain at the lower elevations. Buy Saturday morning, heavy snow was falling across the entire Rocky Mountain Front. The snow was heavy at times throughout Saturday. On Saturday night, blizzard conditions were experienced over the Northern Rocky Mountain Front. The snow began to diminish in intensity on Monday evening. By then, snow accumulations ranged from 3 to 4 feet over the Plains, to 5 to 7 feet above 5000 feet.This snow had a very high moisture content, which caused 301 power poles to break, 232 power pole cross arms to snap off, 521 splices, and over 30 miles of destroyed power lines. The power was out to over 2,500 customers, some for several days. Roads were closed over the entire Rocky Mountain Front region for 2 days. The deep snow cover resulted in the loss of over 3,200 livestock.

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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, June 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: 5300450, 5300451.