Name: Heavy Snow in Montana, May 7, 2002
Start: 2002-05-07T09:03
End: 2002-05-07T09:03
Location: Montana

Where it happened

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.

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: 1

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 May 7, 7:55 AM MST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 7:55 AM MST, 1 hour 8 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
855 AM MDT TUE MAY 07 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY...WED...THU...
LOOKS LIKE CURRENT PACKAGE IS HOLDING VERY NICELY. MORNING REPORTS OF 4-
8 INCHES IN NORTHWEST ZONES VERIFYING WINTER STORM WARNING THERE. NEW
ETA CONSISTENT WITH LAST NIGHTS THAT 700 MB LOW IS A BIT FURTHER
NORTH WHICH SHOULD RESULT IN LESSER AMOUNTS NORTHEAST ZONES...AGAIN PER
MIDNIGHT CREWS ADJUSTMENT.

IN WESTERN ZONES...EXPECT A DECREASE IN ACTIVITY AS 700 MB LOW SPINS
UP AND LIFT SHIFTS TO THE NORTH. LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING
STRONG WAVE ROTATES AROUND UPPER LOW BRINGING STRONG VORTICITY
ADVECTION FOR ANOTHER SHOT OF PRECIPITATION. BY THIS TIME...850 RIDGE
NOSES INTO AREA SO A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW WORDING LOOKS GOOD. ALSO...
THUNDERSTORM POSSIBLE GIVEN TONGUE OF INSTABILITY UP TOWARDS SHERIDAN
AND STRENGTH OF WAVE.

EASTERN ZONES...ETA HAS BEEN CONSISTENT WITH BULLS-EYE OF QPF LATER
THIS AFTERNOON WHICH APPEARS TO BE CONVECTIVE IN NATURE. LOW LEVEL
TEMPERATURES SUPPORT SNOW THERE DURING THAT TIME. PRE-MENTIONED WAVE
WILL THEN WORK INTO EASTERN ZONES THIS EVENING...PRECIPITATION AT THIS
TIME SHOULD ALSO BE SNOW...SO CURRENT ADVISORY OF 3-5 INCHES SHOULD
HOLD THERE AS WELL. WILL UPDATE TO TWEAK WORDING HERE AND THERE BUT
OVERALL PACKAGE IS HOLDING VERY WELL. RASCH

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...

FLOW ALOFT TRANSITIONS FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHWEST FRIDAY MORNING WITH
NEXT SYSTEM DIGGING ALONG THE NW COAST. TROF SLIDES THROUGH THE REGION
SATURDAY WITH BULK OF ENERGY GOING INTO UTAH AND COLORADO. THIS SETS
UP SURFACE TO 700MB LOW PRESSURE IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN WYOMING
AND BRINGS A WEAK FRONT THROUGH SATURDAY...WITH THUNDERSTORMS A
POSSIBILITY IN THE FAR EAST AND SOUTHEAST ZONES. WITH LOW TO THE SOUTH
OF THE AREA MAY SEE SOME UPSLOPE PRECIPITATION DEVELOP IN EASTERLY FLOW
ESPECIALLY INTO SHERIDAN AND THE BIGHORN MTNS. FLOW TRANSITIONS BACK TO
NORTHWEST FLOW SATURDAY NIGHT AS TROF MOVES TO THE EAST. A FAST MOVING
DISTURBANCE CROSSES THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA ON SUNDAY WITH A
SHORTWAVE RIDGE BUILDING IN FOR MONDAY. CHAMBERS

    TDY WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 041 030/042 028/054 037/062 040/062 041/064 044/065
    8/O 84/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B
LVM 038 028/041 025/054 035/059 037/058 039/063 043/064
    +/S 84/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B
HDN 043 029/044 026/056 036/065 042/064 043/066 044/065
    7/O 74/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B
MLS 039 030/039 026/053 037/061 042/063 040/062 046/064
    8/S 84/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B
4BQ 044 034/043 028/055 036/062 041/064 040/063 042/064
    7/R 74/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B
BHK 038 029/040 027/051 035/060 042/065 042/060 048/062
    8/S 84/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B
SHR 052 031/043 026/056 034/063 039/064 037/066 045/067
    4/W 64/J    00/E    22/B    33/W    00/B    00/B

.BYZ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
       MONTANA TODAY AND TONIGHT.
       WINTER STORM WARNING FAR NORTHWEST ZONES TODAY AND TONIGHT.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Musselshell

When: May 7, 9:03 AM MST
Where: Musselshell forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.497, -108.398 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

6 inches of snow 25 miles northwest of Roundup

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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, May 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: 5290412.