Pacific moisture met up with an arctic cold front near the Montana border bringing heavy snow to the mountain regions. Snowfall amounts ranged from 8 inches at Cool Creek and Elk Butte, 10 inches at Shanghai Summit and Lolo Pass, 13 inches at Crater Meadows, and 15 inches at Hemlock Butte.
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.
Pacific moisture met up with an arctic cold front near the Montana border bringing heavy snow to the mountain regions. Snowfall amounts ranged from 8 inches at Cool Creek and Elk Butte, 10 inches at Shanghai Summit and Lolo Pass, 13 inches at Crater Meadows, and 15 inches at Hemlock Butte.
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 Jan 21, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
230 PM MST TUE JAN 21 2003
.SHORT TERM...MOIST WEST TO NORTHWEST FLOW IS PRODUCING WIDESPREAD
SNOW AND LOWER IDAHO VALLEY RAIN ACROSS THE MIDSECTION OF THE CWA
THIS AFTERNOON. THIS FLOW CAN BE SEEN ON SATELLITE EXTENDING BACK
TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST B.C. COAST. THIS FETCH WILL CONTINUE OVER
NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA TONIGHT...AND SHOULD
BE ENOUGH FOR HEAVY SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS AND ADVISORY CRITERIA IN
THE VALLEYS.
ARCTIC AIR CONTINUES TO FLOW INTO THE FLATHEAD VALLEY...AND TO A
LESSER EXTENT...THE BLACKFOOT VALLEY. STILL LOOKS GOOD FOR MAKING
IT INTO THE MISSOULA VALLEY OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL HELP PROVIDE
EXTRA SURFACE LIFT. HOWEVER...LOW LEVEL EASTERLY FLOW TENDS TO
INHIBIT ACCUMULATION DUE TO DOWNWARD DRYING. STILL THINK THIS FLOW
WILL BE SHALLOW ENOUGH FOR 2-3 INCHES EVEN IN MISSOULA BY MORNING.
WEDNESDAY SYSTEM PACKS GOOD ISENTROPIC LIFT...BUT WILL HOLD OFF
UNTIL MIDDAY IN NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO...AND LATE AFTERNOON FOR WESTERN
MONTANA. WITH SNOW LEVELS RISING...WILL RAISE HEAVY SNOW WARNING
OVER IDAHO TO 5000 FEET. LOOKS TO BE ENOUGH OF A BREAK IN PRECIP
FOR WESTERN MONTANA TO KEEP IT SEPARATE FROM TONIGHTS EVENT.
THEREFORE...WILL ISSUE WATCH LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY
NIGHT...AND EXTEND IT TO THE CANADIAN BORDER. SNOW LEVELS LOOK TOO
HIGH IN NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO (>6000FT) WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR A
HIGHLIGHT. AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCAL FREEZING RAIN
WEDNESDAY NIGHT WITH POST ARCTIC COLD AIR STILL IN THE VALLEYS AND
WARMING ALOFT. COLD FRONT ON THURSDAY...TRAILING WEDNESDAYS WARM
SECTOR...SHOULD HELP MIX OUT MOST OF THE VALLEYS...AT LEAST ENOUGH
FOR MIXED RAIN AND SNOW. WHITMORE
.LONG TERM...A SERIES OF SHORT WAVES WILL MOVE ACROSS THE FLAT RIDGE
THROUGH THE PERIOD. THE STRONGEST SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE AREA ON
MONDAY. THEREFORE WILL KEEP IN A MENTION OF PRECIP EACH DAY WITH
SNOW OVER THE MOUNTAINS. WARMER AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION...
BRINGING A CHANCE OF SOME RAIN MIXING WITH SNOW IN THE VALLEYS.
KOLATA
.MSO...HEAVY SNOW WARNING ABOVE 4500 FEET AND SNOW ADVISORY BELOW
4500 FEET TONIGHT IN MTZ3>6-43.
...HEAVY SNOW WARNING ABOVE 4000 FEET TONIGHT AND ABOVE 5000
FEET WEDNESDAY IDZ5>8.
...SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT MTZ7.
...WINTER STORM WATCH FOR LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND
WEDNESDAY NIGHT MTZ1>6-43.
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB SSO 019/029 026/036 023/035 34567735
CREB 026/041 029/042 028/039 026/037 3963354333
FCA SSE 010/019 015/030 022/034 34457644
EEEB 026/039 029/041 028/036 026/034 3942353433
POL SSE 016/024 022/035 024/037 34667644
ECEB 028/041 031/041 030/038 028/036 3942354433
MSO SOE 020/025 021/035 023/038 34667534
ECEB 027/042 030/043 029/041 027/039 3942354433
HMM SSE 023/031 025/038 021/038 34667534
EEEB 025/040 028/041 027/039 025/037 3942354433
BTM SCE 016/031 015/036 014/036 34656422
BEEB 019/043 022/039 021/038 019/036 3932333423
ORO RCE 034/043 035/043 033/046 34667424
EEEB 039/050 042/051 041/048 039/046 3954344433
GRV RCS 032/039 032/040 027/041 34767435
ERRB 034/045 037/047 036/044 034/042 3964356533
SMN CCE 022/032 020/033 019/033 34445313
EEEB 023/042 026/036 025/033 023/031 3952444432MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-221300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 415 PM MST TUE JAN 21 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO .DAY ONE... TODAY A MOIST PACIFIC SYSTEM MOVING INTO THE REGION WILL BRING ABUNDANT PRECIPITATION TO WEST CENTRAL MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO TONIGHT. PLEASE SEE GTFWSWMSO FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY HEAVY SNOWS WITH POSSIBLE VALLEY RAIN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS ANOTHER MOIST SYSTEM CROSSES THE AREA. PLEASE SEE GTFWSWMSO FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .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 heavy snow. 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, January 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: 5338766, 5338767, 5338768.