Wildfire and Hail in Montana, September 5 to 6, 2002

Name: Wildfire and Hail in Montana, September 5 to 6, 2002
Start: 2002-09-05T18:15
End: 2002-09-06T15:00
Location: Montana

September 5 to 6, 2002 · NWS BYZ · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

1 hail, 1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: 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 Sep 5, 1:25 PM MST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 5, 1:25 PM MST, 4 hours 50 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
225 PM MDT THU SEP 05 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR FRI AND SAT...

MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT FOR THE SHORT TERM ALTHOUGH THE ETA HAS
INITIALIZED PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM ABOUT 5 DEGREES NORTH AND EAST OF
ACTUAL POSITION. WAVE CURRENTLY OVER SOUTHERN IDAHO WILL INITIATE
TONIGHTS ROUND OF CONVECTION...LOWER LEVELS A BIT MORE MOIST THAN
EARLIER THOUGHT BUT STILL THINK MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE DRY
WITH STRONG OUTFLOW WIND GUSTS POSSIBLE. STORMS WILL DIMINISH AFTER
SUNSET AND WEAK COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL SAG INTO SOUTHERN MONTANA
BRINGING A BIT MORE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IN WHICH SHOULD KEEP TEMPS IN
THE 50S AND LOW 60S OVERNIGHT.

MODELS BRING SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVE INTO SOUTHERN MONTANA BY 9 AM
FRIDAY MORNING. GOOD SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE FETCH CURRENTLY OVER SOUTHERN
NEVADA PROGGED INTO THE AREA OVERNIGHT...COMBINED WITH LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE BEHIND FRONT SHOULD ALLOW FOR WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP WITH THE DISTURBANCE RIDING UP OVER THE
FRONT. THE ONLY AREA THAT MAY HAVE TROUBLE PRODUCING PRECIPITATION WILL
BE THE SOUTHEAST ZONES WHERE 700 THERMAL RIDGE IS LOCATED...THIS MAY
CAP OFF ALL BUT THE STRONGEST CONVECTION AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL
BE MORE LIMITED THERE AS WELL. STILL WILL GO WITH LOW CHANCE POPS
SOUTHEAST WHILE WEST AND CENTRAL WILL GO WITH LIKELY POPS DURING
THE DAY FRIDAY. COINCIDENT CLOUD COVER SHOULD HOLD TEMPS BACK A BIT IN
MOST AREAS SO HAVE BUMPED DOWN HIGHS BUT COULD STILL GET A FEW 90 DEGREE
READINGS IN THE SOUTHEAST.

SHORTWAVE MOVES OUT OF THE AREA BY LATE AFTERNOON BUT MID LEVEL TEMPS
WILL HAVE COOLED ENOUGH THAT INSTABILITY SHOWERS WILL BE POSSIBLE
FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH THE WEEKEND...ESPECIALLY GIVEN MOIST
EASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW...SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE FEED ALOFT AND JET ENERGY
REMAINING ACROSS THE AREA. HARD TO PINPOINT SPECIFIC TRIGGERS IN THE
SOUTHWEST FLOW SO WILL BROADBRUSH CHANCE POPS FOR NOW. TEMPERATURES WILL
FALL TO NEAR NORMAL LEVELS WITH MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS AND SHOWER
ACTIVITY LIMITING HEATING POTENTIAL. CHAMBERS

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SUN...MON...TUE...WED...THU...

CANADA...ECMWF...MRF...AND THE NEW AVN INDICATE THE UPPER TROUGH THAT
HAS BEEN OUT WEST TO MOVE OVER THE COUNTY WARNING AREA DURING THE
EXTENDED PERIOD. THE MODELS DIFFER AS TO WHEN THIS WILL TAKE PLACE...
HOWEVER...AS WELL AS WHEN THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO
INFLUENCE THE AREA. CANADA ENSEMBLES SHOW THE MOST UNCERTAINTY THIS
PACKAGE AND FOR THIS REASON HAVE DISCOUNTED THEM. THE CANADA MODEL
HAS BEEN THE FASTEST WITH THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM AS WELL. THE NEWER
MRF...WHILE UNCERTAINTIES ARE THERE...IS BETTER ENSEMBLE WISE. THE NEW
AVN RUN IS SIMILAR TO THE ECMWF IN TIMING OF THE SYSTEM. ECMWF IS
SOMEWHAT FASTER...HOWEVER. AM LEANING TOWARD THE NEW AVN WITH ITS
SIMILARITIES TO THE ECMWF. THUS...THE GREATER PRECIPITATION
POSSIBILITIES LOOK LIKE THEY WOULD OCCUR ON MONDAY. WILL HAVE HIGH
SCATTERED POPS THEN. TUESDAY DURING THE DAY LOOKS DRY...AS DOES THE
REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD WITH THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE ADVANCING OVER THE
AREA AND THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM NOT YET INFLUENCING THE WEATHER
HERE. AT FIRST...TEMPERATURES SHOULD TREND DOWN AS THE UPPER SYSTEM
ADVANCES AND PASSES OVER THE AREA. THEN THESE SHOULD MODERATE AS THE
UPPER LEVEL RIDGE MOVES OVER THE REGION. CHB

    FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 061/084 054/080 054/076 050/071 044/071 049/076 051/079
    36/T    64/T    44/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
LVM 051/078 049/074 047/071 045/067 040/069 045/073 049/076
    36/T    64/T    44/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
HDN 060/084 052/082 052/078 048/073 042/073 047/078 049/081
    26/T    64/T    44/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
MLS 059/086 053/082 055/081 053/076 047/075 050/080 052/082
    24/T    43/T    33/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
4BQ 063/092 058/083 055/082 052/077 046/076 049/081 051/083
    23/T    33/T    33/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
BHK 061/086 054/083 055/080 051/077 044/073 047/077 050/080
    24/T    43/T    33/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
SHR 050/088 053/081 050/076 047/071 041/069 045/075 048/078
    26/T    64/T    44/T    44/T    30/B    00/B    00/B

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

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:13 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail, 1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Yellowstone

When: September 5, 6:15 PM MST
Where: Yellowstone County, 20 mi N of Laurel
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.967, -108.767

Wildfire, Stillwater

When: September 6, 3:00 PM MST
Where: Stillwater County, 10 mi S of Columbus
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 45.669, -109.395 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Cow Creek:Cause: Lightning Strike. Fire grew to 2,000 acres within four hours.Begin Date: September 6, 2002End Date: September 8, 2002Acres Burned: 5495Total Persons: 113Structural Loss: 2Cost: 223,000K

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Montana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, September 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: 5318135, 5318136.