Heavy Snow, Orofino / Grangeville Region
- When
- March 3, 12:00 AM PST to 11:00 AM PST
- Where
- Orofino / Grangeville Region forecast zone
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 46.259, -115.562 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Idaho, March 3, 2003
Heavy snow of 7 to 11 inches fell on the Camas Prairie region near the town of Grangeville during the night and early morning hours. Snow fell at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour with mainly rain below 3000 feet.
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
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 happened
The episode as NWS MSO wrote it up.
Heavy snow of 7 to 11 inches fell on the Camas Prairie region near the town of Grangeville during the night and early morning hours. Snow fell at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour with mainly rain below 3000 feet.
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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 2, 8:12 PM PST, 3 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 2, 8:12 PM PST, 3 hours 48 minutes before
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION...COR
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
912 PM MST SUN MAR 2 2003
.SHORT TERM...WILL MAKE SOME CHANGES TO THE WSW WORDING FOR MTZ002.
THE SNOW HAS ENDED FOR THE MOST PART. A COUPLE WEAK ENHANCEMENTS
NOW IN CANADA WILL MOVE SOUTH TONIGHT. SOME SNOW WILL SPILL OVER
INTO THE GLACIER AREA WEST OF THE DIVIDE THE REST OF TONIGHT...
BUT THE MAJORITY OF SNOWFALL IS OVER FOR MTZ002 AND MTZ043. THE
ARCTIC FRONT IS STILL ON TREK TO MOVE THROUGH NOT UNTIL LATER
TONIGHT...AROUND 10Z OR SO IN THE GLACIER REGION...THUS SOME BLOWING
AND DRIFTING IS STILL EXPECTED FROM THE NEW SNOWFALL THIS EVENING.
WILL CANCEL THE WSW FOR MTZ002 AND MTZ043 AS SNOWFALL HAS ENDED FOR
THE MOST PART. WINDS WILL KICK IN LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THE MORNING
HOURS HERE...BUT WILL NOT REALLY COINCIDE WITH SNOWFALL. OTHERWISE
THE CURRENT WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY ELSEWHERE LOOKS LIKE IT WILL PAN
OUT WELL. MOUNTAIN SNOWS WILL CONTINUE IN CNTRL ID AND WESTERN
MTZ006. WILL ADJUST VALLEY ZONES IN MT FOR SNOW AND AMTS AS SNOW WILL
BE CONFINED TO MTNS. CLOUDS WILL KEEP TEMPS WARMER THAN
GOING FORECAST IN BUTTE AND SALMON AREAS...SO WILL BOOST MIN TEMPS UP
THERE. RPN
.LONG TERM...MODELS STILL IN GOOD AGREEMENT OF LONG WAVE TROF FROM
HUDSON BAY LOW RETROGRADING WEST ACROSS CANADA THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.
THIS WILL ALLOW MOIST ZONAL FLOW TO COME IN FROM THE PACIFIC. THE
ARCTIC BOUNDARY WILL REMAIN ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER THROUGH FRIDAY.
MODELS BEGIN TO DIFFER SATURDAY...NEW GFS AND UKMET ARE TRYING TO
SHOW RIDGING ALONG THE WEST COAST SATURDAY MORNING WHILE THE MRF
BRINGS THE LOW TO THE PACIFIC COAST AND IS SHOWING WAA IN SOUTHWEST
FLOW. ALL MODELS AGREE TO CONTINUE WITH THE WET TREND. WILL KEEP
THE CHANCE OF VALLEY RAIN AND SNOW...LIKELY MOUNTAIN SNOW FOR
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. KOCH
.MSO...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW
MTZ043 TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY MORNING...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW IDZ005>008 ABOVE 3000 FEET
AND MTZ006 TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...
...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB BEO 029/033 011/036 024/035 28441278
RRRR 017/031 017/031 018/032 021/034 3677555555
FCA EES 025/031 009/030 023/033 28653278
SSSO 015/028 013/029 014/030 018/032 3677555555
POL EEO 027/029 013/032 022/035 28662278
SORR 018/032 019/033 019/034 022/035 3677555555
MSO EEO 027/034 016/034 023/036 28562256
SORR 020/032 018/033 019/035 023/036 3667555555
HMM EEO 025/035 016/035 022/037 28563257
SSOR 023/033 021/034 021/036 024/037 3665555455
BTM EES 018/023 004/028 011/033 28464246
SSOR 013/033 011/032 013/034 016/035 3645555455
ORO OBR 030/043 027/046 032/045 28653168
RRRR 026/040 025/041 027/042 030/042 3667655455
GRV SBR 028/038 023/040 025/041 28664167
RROR 022/038 021/038 023/039 026/040 3667655455
SMN EBS 022/035 013/035 019/036 28454146
SRRO 019/036 015/036 016/037 019/038 3655555455Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 2, 8:38 PM PST, 3 hours 22 minutes before
MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-031300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 938 PM MST SUN MAR 2 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO .DAY ONE... TONIGHT AN ARCTIC FRONT WILL PUSH WEST OVER THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE AND INTO WESTERN MONTANA LATE TONIGHT AND MONDAY. HEAVY SNOWS HAVE ENDED IN THE GLACIER AND BLACKFOOT REGION TONIGHT...THEREFORE THE WINTER STORM WARNING AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES IN THESE AREAS HAVE BEEN CANCELED. BUT AN ADDITIONAL INCH OR TWO OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE MAINLY IN THE MOUNTAINS. STRONG GUSTY NORTHEAST WINDS WILL DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...PRODUCING SOME BLOWING AND DRIFING OF NEW FALLEN SNOW LATE. IN ADDITION...WIDESPREAD SNOW WILL CONTINUE MAINLY IN THE MOUNTAINS IN THE OROFINO AND GRANGEVILLE AREAS ABOVE 3000 FEET AS WELL AS THE CLEARWATER AND BITTERROOT MOUNTAINS THROUGH LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY MONDAY MORNING...REFER TO THE WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THE UNSETTLED PATTERN AND ARCTIC AIRMASS WILL CONTINUE TO BRING A THREAT OF HEAVY MOUNTAIN SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE REGION... ESPECIALLY WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Cold in Michigan, March 3, 2003
- Winter Weather in South Dakota, March 3 to 4, 2003
- Winter Storm in Montana, March 3, 2003
- Cold in New York, March 3, 2003
- Cold in Maine, March 3 to 4, 2003
- Winter Weather in Colorado, March 3 to 5, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, March 3 to 5, 2003
- Winter Weather in Colorado, March 3 to 5, 2003
- Winter Weather in Colorado, March 3 to 5, 2003
- Winter Storm in Michigan, March 3 to 4, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, March 3, 2003
- Blizzard in Maine, March 3, 2003
More
Every storm in Idaho in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, March 2003
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: 5347885.