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 Nov 18, 2:28 PM MST, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
228 PM MST MON NOV 18 2002
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TUE AND WED...
WINDY AND WARM PATTERN CONTINUES IN THE SHORT TERM. BIGGEST PROBLEM IS
IF HIGH WIND CRITERIA WILL BE MET IN UPPER YELLOWSTONE VALLEY.
TONIGHT...TWO AREAS OF SHORTWAVE ENERGY MOVING INTO AREA. FIRST WAVE
CURRENTLY OVER OREGON AND WASHINGTON WILL TRACK ACROSS SOUTHERN MONTANA
TONIGHT. OTHER STRONGER WAVE WILL PASS TO THE NORTH AND EAST.
FIRST WEAKER WAVE CURRENTLY CAUSING A FEW SHOWERS OVER NORTHWEST AND
NORTH-CENTRAL MONTANA...THUS WILL KEEP SOME ISOLATED POPS IN SOUTHWEST
AREAS TONIGHT. PRESSURE GRADIENT TO TIGHTEN UP MORE TONIGHT AS JET
PUSHES ACROSS CANADA AND RIDGING BUILDS FURTHER EAST INTO WEST COAST.
STABILITY AND LOW LEVEL TEMPERATURES INCREASE OVERNIGHT SETTING UP
STRONG WIND SCENARIO IN LVM...WHICH CONTINUES INTO TUESDAY. EXPECT
BREEZY CONDITIONS WEST WITH INVERSIONS SETTING UP EAST FOR LIGHTER
WINDS AND COOLER TEMPERATURES SIMILAR TO LAST NIGHT.
TUESDAY...PRESSURE GRADIENT TIGHTENS A BIT MORE FOR WINDY CONDITIONS
WESTERN PLAINS...AND BREEZY EAST. WITH STABLE ATMOSPHERE WILL COME LOW
MIXING HEIGHTS AND ALONG WITH CLOUDS...WILL LOWER CURRENT HIGHS A BIT...
ALTHOUGH STILL VERY WARM FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. MODELS HAVE BEEN
TRENDING MORE AND MORE TO A MORE AMPLIFIED NATURE OF THE UPPER RIDGE.
THIS TRENDS LESS AND LESS TO HIGH WIND EVENT IN LVM AS WARMER AIR IS
FURTHER WEST...NOT AS FAVORABLE ORIENTATION OF SURFACE PRESSURE
GRADIENT AND 700 MB WINDS NOT THAT STRONG AND ALSO OUT OF THE
NORTHWEST. FLIES IN THE OINTMENT ARE THAT WINDS MAY HIT HIGH WIND ARE
THE STABILITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND A STRONG SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT.
WILL OPT TO NOT UPGRADE WATCH TO WARNING AND HIT WINDS UP TO CRITERIA
THERE. ANOTHER POSSIBLE PROBLEM IS AVN IS SWINGING WEAK WAVE ACROSS THE
AREA WITH SOME LIGHT QPF...WHICH MAY EQUATE TO A FEW SPRINKLES. WILL
KEEP IT DRY BUT CLOUD COVER MAY BE THICKER AND THUS LOWER HIGHS LOOK
GOOD.
TUESDAY NIGHT...UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO AMPLIFY TO THE WEST WITH
NORTHWEST FLOW OVER AREA. WILL BE BREEZY TO WINDY AGAIN WESTERN ZONES
WITH SOME INVERSIONS SETTING UP EAST.
WEDNESDAY...UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO THE WEST. COOLER AIR WORKS INTO
AREA AT MID LEVELS DECREASING STABILITY A BIT...ALLOWING BETTER
MIXING FOR MORE UNIFORM WINDS ACROSS AREA. THIS BETTER MIXING SHOULD
COUNTER COOLER AIR FOR SLIGHTLY WARMER CONDITIONS. ALSO COUNTER LESS
PRESSURE GRADIENT WITH BETTER MIXING FOR AFTERNOON GUSTY WINDS ACROSS
THE AREA. RASCH
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR THU...FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...
WARMING TREND TO CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY WHEN NEXT COLD FRONT DUE TO
ARRIVE. WINDS WILL DECREASE IN INTENSITY ON THURSDAY AS UPPER LEVEL
RIDGE BECOMES CENTERED OVER THE STATE. THIS RIDGE WILL ALSO ALLOW SOME
VERY WARM AIR TO MOVE IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST WITH 850MB TEMPERATURES
APPROACHING 10C. SIMPLY MIXING FROM 850MB WOULD LEAD TO LOWER 60S
ACROSS THE AREA BUT FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST MIXING LEVELS A BIT
HIGHER AND WITH SUNNY TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES EXPECTED...WILL GO WITH
MID 60S WHICH WOULD APPROACH RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE LEVELS FOR THE
DAY. FRIDAY AFTERNOON NEXT SYSTEM PUSHES RIDGE TO THE SOUTH...THINK
BEST PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL BE LATE EVENING WITH A RAIN SNOW MIX
POSSIBLE AS 850 TEMPS FALL TO 0C BY MIDNIGHT. WITH NORTHWEST FLOW
BEHIND SYSTEM THINK WE COULD SEE A COUPLE OF INCHES OF SNOW IN THE
HIGHER ELEVATIONS ESPECIALLY THE BIGHORNS. TEMPERATURES FRIDAY WILL BE
ABOUT 10 DEGREES COLDER THAN THURSDAY WITH COLD ADVECTION ALOFT AND
WINDS WILL BE GUSTY ONCE AGAIN. PRECIPITATION WILL END EARLY SATURDAY
WITH PARTLY CLOUDY AND COOL CONDITIONS FOR THE AFTERNOON...WINDS WILL
AGAIN BE GUSTY OUT OF THE NORTHWEST. FOR SUNDAY RIDGE BEGINS TO PUSH
IN FAIRLY RAPIDLY FROM THE WEST PRODUCING A WARMING TREND INTO THE
EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE LOW TO MIDDLE 50S BY
MONDAY AFTERNOON. CHAMBERS
TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 039/056 041/060 040/065 037/055 028/047 024/051 026/053
00/N 00/B 00/B 03/O 30/B 00/B 00/U
LVM 047/055 046/060 046/064 035/052 027/047 022/050 025/052
22/W 00/E 00/B 03/O 30/B 00/U 00/U
HDN 036/057 036/061 036/066 034/055 029/047 023/050 025/052
00/N 00/B 00/U 03/O 30/B 00/B 00/U
MLS 033/058 035/060 035/065 035/056 027/045 022/049 024/051
00/E 00/B 00/U 03/O 30/N 00/B 00/B
4BQ 032/059 035/060 035/064 035/057 026/045 021/048 023/050
00/E 00/B 00/U 03/O 30/N 00/B 00/U
BHK 029/057 034/056 034/062 031/055 025/044 021/046 022/048
00/E 00/B 00/U 03/O 30/N 00/B 00/B
SHR 025/057 030/061 030/065 030/056 026/046 021/047 023/049
00/E 00/B 00/U 03/O 30/N 00/B 00/U
.BYZ...
MT...HIGH WIND WATCH FOR LATE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING FOR ZONE
MTZ040 HAS BEEN CANCELED.
WY...NONE.MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-191200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 427 PM MST MON NOV 18 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. WINDS IN THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE VALLEY WILL BE STRONG AT 40 TO 50 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH. HOWEVER WINDS SHOULD REMAIN JUST BELOW WARNING CRITERIA OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. WINDY CONDITIONS WILL BE WIDESPREAD TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY... ESPECIALLY IN AREAS IMMEDIATELY EAST OF THE ROCKIES...BUT ARE NOT EXPECTED TO REACH WARNING CRITERIA. WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Sustained winds of 20-40 mph with a gust to 63 mph in Nye.
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, November 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: 5323446.