Winter storm brought heavy snow and gusty southwest winds to the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho. Snowfall amounts ranged from6 inches at Elk Butte to 11 inches at Crater Meadows and Hemlock Butte.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 episode as NWS MSO wrote it up.
Winter storm brought heavy snow and gusty southwest winds to the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho. Snowfall amounts ranged from6 inches at Elk Butte to 11 inches at Crater Meadows and Hemlock Butte. Lolo Pass received 19 inches of new snow. Southwestwinds of 20 to 35 mph caused blowing and drifting of snow and reduced visibility.
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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 16, 8:50 AM MST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
850 AM MST SUN FEB 16 2003
.SHORT TERM...HAVE ALREADY UPDATED ZFP TO ADD LOCAL WINDS AND ADJUST
TEMPS. NO UPDATES PLANNED TO THE SFP AT THIS TIME. A COMPLEX WEATHER
PATTERN UNFOLDING AS A NEGATIVELY-TILTED TROUGH ALOFT PUSHES INTO THE
REGION TODAY. A STRONG UNDERCUTTING JET CLIPPING THE SUB-TROPICAL
MOISTURE FEED OFF THIS MORNING. HOWEVER...THE MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW
PLENTY OF MOISTURE WRAPPED UP IN THIS SYSTEM AS WELL AS DYNAMICS.
THE SURFACE COLD FRONT WILL BE PASSING THROUGH THE IDAHO PANHANDLE
ZONES BETWEEN 17-20Z AND THEN WESTERN MONTANA BETWEEN 20Z-00Z THIS
AFTERNOON. BEST MOISTURE APPEARS TO BE LAGGING BEHIND THE FRONT IN
THE MORE UNSTABLE WESTERLY FLOW. COLD CELLULAR CUMULUS OFF THE
OREGON/WASHINGTON PROOF OF AN UNSTABLE AIR MASS. COLD AIR ALOFT WITH
THE TROUGH WILL MOVE INTO THE CWA TONIGHT WITH MODELS ADVERTISING
STEEP LAPSE RATES IN THE 7-8C/KM RANGE. WEST-FACING SLOPE SHOULD SEE
A HEALTHY DOSE OF SNOW LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT IN THE WARNED AREA.
MSJ
.LONG TERM...EXTENDED MODELS AGREE ON TIMING OF WEDNESDAY NIGHT
SYSTEM ALTHOUGH EUROPEAN MODELS FOCUS ENERGY SOUTH...REGARDLESS
WEATHER TREND FOR EVENT ON THAT DAY LOOKS GOOD WITH INHERITED
FORECAST...ALSO LIKELY POPS LOOK REASONABLE FOR THAT DAY. THURSDAY
THROUGH FRIDAY WILL SEE MOIST NORTHWEST FLOW OVER THE AREA AS
WEDNESDAYS SYSTEM PUSHES EAST WITH COOLING TREND AND POSSIBILITY OF
ARCTIC AIR MOVING OVER CWA ON FRIDAY. NEEDED TO TREND TEMPERATURES
DOWN TO REFLECT COOLING. MODEL GUIDANCE FOR DAY 7 DIFFERS WITH MRF
WARMING UNDER FLAT RIDGE MOVING OVER CWA WHILE ECMWF BUILDS SHARPER
RIDGE WEST OF OUR CWA AND COOLS. ENDED UP WARMING TEMPS A BIT FROM
FRIDAY BUT NOT BITING YET ON MAJOR WARMING TREND. MWJ
.MSO...WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY AFTERNOON
IDZ005-006-MTZ006
WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY AFTERNOON
MTZ001-002-004-043.
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB REE /044 032/043 030/044 3285544
SEEE 029/042 026/039 024/035 027/036 030/ 2856422553/
FCA REE /042 029/039 028/041 3275445
WEEE 026/038 021/035 016/031 020/032 022/ 2846522443/
POL RER /044 030/040 027/041 3275435
WEEE 029/038 025/035 022/032 024/036 025/ 2846522443/
MSO REE /046 030/040 025/043 3265425
WEEE 029/040 025/037 021/032 026/037 027/ 2845522443/
HMM REE /048 028/039 024/042 3275425
WEEE 028/041 023/038 022/032 025/042 026/ 2835532443/
BTM SEE /044 021/036 015/039 3255222
EEEE 021/036 014/033 011/027 020/035 021/ 2824422444/
ORO RER /050 036/048 034/048 3285425
RERE 032/046 032/043 031/045 034/049 038/ 2867511553/
GRV RER /048 029/041 027/046 3275536
WEOE 027/044 024/041 025/038 026/040 027/ 2857422553/
SMN REE /039 019/037 019/038 3265332
SEEE 019/036 021/033 020/030 020/037 021/ 2835532444/MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-171300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 600 AM MST SUN FEB 16 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO .DAY ONE... TODAY A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS. THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL MOUNTAIN SNOWFALL LATE WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AS ANOTHER PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, February 2003
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: 5343045, 5343046.