Strong winter storm impacted most of north central Idaho for several days with heavy snow and gusty west winds. Storm total snowfall ranged from one to two feet in the mountains.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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.
Strong winter storm impacted most of north central Idaho for several days with heavy snow and gusty west winds. Storm total snowfall ranged from one to two feet in the mountains. Lolo Pass received 28 inches of new snow and Mountain Meadows 31 inches. West to northwest winds of 15 to 30 mph with localized gusts to 35 mph, caused areas of blowing and drifting of snow and poor 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 20, 3:20 AM MST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
320 AM MST THU FEB 20 2003
.SHORT TERM...CURRENTLY RAIN AND SNOW IS MOVING THROUGH EASTERN
WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO...AND IS JUST BEGINNING IN EXTREME
WESTERN MONTANA AND WESTERN CLEARWATER COUNTY. PRECIPITATION WILL
SPREAD THROUGH MOST OF THE CWA THROUGH THE DAY. SOME LIGHT OROGRAPHIC
SNOW IS OCCURRING ALONG THE MISSION AND SAPPHIRE RANGES ATTM AND WILL
LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY.
MOIST WEST TO NORTHWEST FLOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY. A SERIES
OF SHORTWAVES WILL PUSH THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ALMOST EVERY
PERIOD. A SURFACE LOW WILL MOVE INTO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA COAST THIS
MORNING AND SLOWLY SPREAD WEAK WARM AIR ADVECTION OVER THE CWA LATE
THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES SHOULD NOT DROP DRASTICALLY
TONIGHT BECAUSE OF THIS. THE BEST SHOT FOR PRECIPITATION STILL LOOKS
TO BE TONIGHT AND THEN AGAIN LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. MESO
ETA IS SHOWING A VERY STRONG WESTERLY JET (140KTS) PUSHING INTO THE
WASHINGTON COAST THIS MORNING AND WEAKENING AS IT MOVES INTO THE
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AREA OF THE CWA TONIGHT. THE MESO ETA IS DRYER
THAN THE AVN AND IT REALLY DRIES THINGS OUT TEMPORARILY ON FRIDAY
BEFORE BRINGING ANOTHER SHOT OF PRECIP TO THE CLEARWATERS FRIDAY
NIGHT. AS THE SURFACE LOW DIGS TO THE SOUTHEAST FRIDAY AFTERNOON
COLDER AIR FROM CANADA WILL BEGIN TO FILTER IN FROM THE NORTH. BY
SATURDAY AFTERNOON A BOUNDARY HAS SET UP FROM MISSOULA TOWARDS
BUTTE. TEMPERATURES WILL NOT DRASTICALLY CHANGE FROM THE MORNING
LOWS IN THESE AREAS.
CURRENTLY HAVE A HEAVY SNOW WARNING OUT FOR NORTHWEST MONTANA
ABOVE 3500 FEET FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND WILL BE CONTINUING THAT.
THE CURRENT WATCH OUT NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA
WILL BE BROKEN IN THE NORTHERN CLEARWATERS AND THE CLARK FORK REGION
FOR A WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND THE SOUTHERN CLEARWATERS AND
BITTERROOT REGION REMAINING IN A WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY
NIGHT. IN THE NORTHERN CLEARWATERS AND CLARK FORK REGION THE
CURRENT WATCH WILL CONTINUE FOR FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. KOCH
.LONG TERM...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH THIS
PATTERN. GFS SEEMS TO BE OUTLYING MODEL AND WAS NOT FAVORED BY HPC
YESTERDAY. ARCTIC FRONT WILL BE THROUGH THE ENTIRE CWA BY SUNDAY
MORNING WITH STRONG HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING INTO THE NORTHERN
ROCKIES. HAVE DRIED THINGS OUT BY SUNDAY NIGHT WITH VERY COLD
TEMPERATURES OVER THE REGION THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. LEANING
TOWARD THE EUROPEAN MODELS AND TO SOME DEGREE NOGAPS. LOOKS LIKE A
SECONDARY SHORTWAVE FROM CANADA MOVES DOWN MONDAY...REINFORCING THE
COLD AIR MASS IN PLACE...AND PHASES WITH A CUTOFF LOW MOVING TOWARD
THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. RIDGE REMAINS DOMINATE PLAYER OVER THE
EASTERN PAC...BUT THERE REMAINS POTENTIAL FOR WARM OVERRUNNING LATE
TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY. HAVE LITTLE CONFIDENCE THIS FAR OUT TO CHANGE
ANYTHING AT THIS POINT. FEEL THAT GFS MOS GUIDANCE WAY TOO
FAST/OPTIMISTIC ON THE WARM-UP TOWARD DAYS 6/7. BOLDT
.MSO...A HEAVY SNOW WARNING CONTINUES ABOVE 3500 FEET FOR MTZ001-002-
043 TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT...
...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR IDZ005-MTZ004 ABOVE 4000 FEET
TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT...
...WINTER STORM WATCH CONTINUES FOR IDZ005-MTZ004 ABOVE 4000 FEET
FRIDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...
...A WINTER STORM WATCH CONTINUES FOR IDZ006-MTZ006 ABOVE 4000
FEET TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB RRE /042 026/037 023/027 3667754
BUEC 010/025 008/032 016/036 019/037 027/ 2821000112/
FCA ORE /039 027/035 019/024 3677754
BUEE 006/020 000/026 010/033 017/033 021/ 2821000112/
POL RRS /042 029/037 023/027 3677756
BUBE 012/021 007/029 013/034 018/034 024/ 2841000112/
MSO ORS /040 030/039 024/032 3677776
BUBE 014/023 006/030 011/034 018/035 022/ 2852000112/
HMM ORS /041 031/039 023/034 3677776
BUBE 017/024 008/032 012/036 018/037 023/ 2863000112/
BTM ESS /032 021/035 015/028 3644666
BUBE 001/021 911/026 003/031 013/032 016/ 2864000122/
ORO RRR /047 036/049 035/042 3677776
BUBE 024/038 022/041 028/044 031/045 034/ 2843000001/
GRV ORS /040 033/043 030/039 3678886
BUBE 021/036 020/038 023/041 023/042 030/ 2853000001/
SMN SSS /037 025/039 023/035 3655655
BBBB 018/024 005/029 011/034 014/035 024/ 2855000000/MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-211300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 600 AM MST THU FEB 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO .DAY ONE... TODAY A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING HEAVY SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHWEST MONTANA AND THE NORTHERN CLEARWATER MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO THROUGH TONIGHT. A HEAVY SNOW WARNING IS IN EFFECT...PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY HEAVY MOUNTAIN SNOW IS POSSIBLE FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT MAINLY ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA. A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT...PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS. ON SATURDAY...AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT ACCOMPANIED BY SNOW AND GUSTY WINDS WILL MOVE OVER THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE AND INTO NORTHWEST MONTANA. THE FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA BY SATURDAY EVENING. SNOWFALL WILL DECREASE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING BUT COLDER TEMPERATURES WILL SPREAD WESTWARD THROUGHOUT NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO. THIS WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE FROM THE RELATIVELY MILD WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPERIENCED IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS. LOW TEMPERATURES WILL BE 10 TO 20 DEGREES COOLER THAN NORMAL MONDAY AND TUESDAY MORNINGS. .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.
3 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: 5343051, 5343052, 5343053.