Heavy Snow in Wyoming, November 23, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in Wyoming, November 23, 2002
Start: 2002-11-23T15:40
End: 2002-11-23T15:40
Location: Wyoming

November 23, 2002 · NWS BYZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 Nov 23, 2:24 PM MST, 1 hour 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 23, 2:24 PM MST, 1 hour 16 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
224 PM MST SAT NOV 23 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR SUN AND MON...

EARLY AFTERNOON SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATING THAT CLOUD TOPS HAVE
STOPPED THEIR WARMING TREND AND HIGHEST TOPS BEGINNING TO SHIFT EAST OF
SOUTHWEST MONTANA. RADAR DOES SHOW PRECIP BAND SAGGING TO THE SOUTH
WITH HIGHEST REFLECTIVITIES PRIMARILY SOUTH OF BILLINGS OVER THE BIG
HORN MOUNTAINS WITH SNOW TO END IN BILLINGS SOON. SHORTWAVE MOVING
SOUTHWARD ALONG THE WESTERN MT/ID BORDER IS HELPING MAINTAIN DIVERGENT
FLOW ALOFT OVER SOUTHWEST MONTANA/NORTHERN WYOMING BUT AS SHORTWAVE
REACHES SOUTHEAST IDAHO AROUND 03Z ALL UPPER SUPPORT SHOULD END.
MOISTURE DOES HANG UP AGAINST THE HIGHER TERRAIN WITH UPSLOPE FLOW
CONTINUING BUT MID LEVELS SHOW DRYING SO WILL KEEP SOME HIGHER POPS IN
THE EVENING AND TAPERING THEM DOWN TO SHOWERS AROUND MIDNIGHT. CLOUD
COVER TONIGHT IS GOING TO COMPLICATE MINIMUMS BUT SNOW COVER IN CLOUD
COVERED AREAS WILL HELP TEMPS FALL THUS TEENS ACROSS THE AREA LOOK
PRETTY GOOD. DRY AIR ALOFT MOVES INTO THE AREA FOR SUNDAY AND WITH
UPSLOPE GRADIENTS WEAKENING WOULD EXPECT SOME SUNSHINE TO HELP
MODERATE TEMPERATURES. SUNDAY NIGHT SHORTWAVE ROTATING AROUND A HUDSON
BAY LOW BEGINS TO ACCELERATE SOUTHWARD THROUGH SASKATCHEWAN INDUCING
PRESSURE FALLS AHEAD OF IT. THIS PRODUCING SOME DOWNSLOPE GRADIENTS
FOR MIXING ON SUNDAY NIGHT AND HAVE INCREASED TEMPS. MAIN FORECAST
PROBLEM BESIDES SHORTTERM SNOW ISSUES IS THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM ON
MONDAY. AVIATION IS FARTHER WEST WITH ITS TRACK AND WOULD PROVIDE A
BETTER SHOT OF DYNAMICS ACROSS THE AREA WHEREAS THE ETA KEEPS THE WAVE
FARTHER EAST. LATEST ETA SUPPORTS THE 12Z RUN BUT WITH THE AVN HAVING
BETTER DOMAIN INITIALIZATION IN THE AREA THE SHORTWAVE CURRENTLY IS
LOCATED DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH CONFIDENCE IN THE ETA SOLUTION. HAVE
MAINTAINED THE CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE AREA BUT IN GRIDS SHOWED A MINOR
TAPER FROM WEST TO EAST. REINFORCING COLD SHOT COMES IN ASSOCIATED
WITH THIS WAVE BUT ENOUGH MIXING AND COMPRESSIONAL WARMING IN THE
MORNING HOURS SHOULD HELP MAXES BE CLOSE TO SUNDAYS HIGHS BEFORE
COOLING BEGINS. BORSUM

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR TUE...WED...THU...FRI...SAT...
MOISTURE WITH SHORTWAVE THAT TRACKS THROUGH THE AREA ON MONDAY APPEARS
TO BE WELL SOUTH OF THE AREA BY MONDAY NIGHT...AND THIS IS CONSISTENT
WITH SHORT TERM FORECAST THINKING SO WILL BACK OFF POPS FOR MONDAY
NIGHT AND TUESDAY. TEMPERATURES THEN BECOME THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE
EXTENDED...AS MODEL DIFFERENCES CONTINUE WITH THE TRACK OF SHORTWAVE AND
TRAILING COLD AIR. GFS A LITTLE FURTHER EAST THAN PREVIOUS RUNS AND DOES
APPEAR TO BE TRENDING TOWARD THE MORE EASTERLY SOLUTION OF THE EXTENDED
ETA/ECMWF/UKMET MODELS. THIS EASTERLY TRACK WOULD ALLOW FOR SLIGHTLY
WARMER TEMPERATURES THAN GOING FORECAST INDICATES...BUT DO NOT FEEL THAT
ANY MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE FORECAST WILL BE NECESSARY. MONDAY NIGHT
STILL ON TRACK TO BE THE COLDEST NIGHT WITH A GENERAL WARMING TREND
TAKING PLACE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED AS UPPER RIDGE STILL
PROGGED TO BUILD OVER THE AREA. MACZKO

    SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 016/028 015/026 008/025 013/034 018/039 019/043 022/044
    20/B    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
LVM 012/026 017/022 005/023 009/032 014/036 015/040 018/041
    70/B    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
HDN 014/028 013/027 006/027 011/036 016/040 017/044 020/045
    20/B    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
MLS 014/027 012/028 007/027 014/037 019/041 020/045 023/046
    00/B    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
4BQ 013/029 012/027 006/026 013/036 018/039 019/043 022/044
    20/B    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
BHK 012/026 010/026 004/024 012/035 017/042 018/046 021/047
    00/B    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
SHR 014/026 007/024 005/023 009/034 014/038 015/042 018/043
    80/E    03/S    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B

.BYZ...
MT...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY EXPIRES AT 24/00Z MTZ034...
MTZ038>041...MTZ056...MTZ058.

WY...WINTER STORM WARNING EXPIRES AT 24/00Z FOR ZONE WYZ099.

Hazardous weather outlook, Nov 23, 9:11 AM MST, 6 hours 29 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-232215-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
911 AM MST SAT NOV 23 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST
MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING.

.DAY ONE...
A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR SHERIDAN COUNTY WYOMING
THROUGH LATE THIS AFTERNOON...AND A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
CONTINUES THROUGH LATE THIS AFTERNOON FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL
AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA. SEE GTFWSWBYZ FOR DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Sheridan Foothills

When: November 23, 3:40 PM MST
Where: Sheridan Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

5 inches of new snow 10 miles south of Sheridan

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

Every storm in Wyoming in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wyoming, November 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: 5323447.