Name: Wildfire in Montana, August 11 to 15, 2003
Start: 2003-08-11T00:01
End: 2003-08-15T23:59
Location: Montana

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

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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 GGW wrote it up.

There were several small wildfires started by lightning throughout the county. The fires burned approximately 600 acres.

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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 10, 8:15 PM MST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 10, 8:15 PM MST, 3 hours 46 minutes before

NORTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
915 PM MDT SUN AUG 10 2003

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT
UPPER RIDGE AXIS CURRENTLY OVER CENTRAL MONTANA...SLOWLY MIGRATING
EAST ACROSS REGION OVERNIGHT. CONVECTION OVER HIGHER TERRAIN OF
CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA THROWING CIRRUS ACROSS CENTRAL AND
SOUTHERN MONTANA...BUT APPEARS WILL DISSIPATE BEFORE EASTWARD
MIGRATION OF RIDGE AXIS WOULD ALLOW TO REACH CWA. LAKE WIND ADVISORY
REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR FORT PECK LAKE THROUGH MIDNIGHT. BOUNDARY
LAYER RESISTING DECOUPLING VICINITY OF GGW DESPITE HAVING DONE SO
ELSEWHERE ACROSS REGION. GGW RADAR VAD WIND PROFILE SHOWING 30KT
WINDS FROM NEAR SURFACE TO SEVERAL THOUSAND FEET ELEVATION...THUS
KEEPING WINDS STRONGER THAN ANTICIPATED WITH SETTING OF SUN. NO
UPDATES AT THIS TIME...BUT NEXT SHIFT WILL NEED TO RE-ISSUE NPW AT
06Z OR UPDATE ZFP TO DROP WORDING FOR NPW. DNS

.LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY
MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW INCONSISTENCY WITH THE MIDDLE TO LATTER
PORTION OF WEEK/S PATTERN. GFS FLIP-FLOP/S SOLUTION WITH 12Z RUN
KEEPING A CUT-OFF RIDGE OVER THE TREASURE STATE...WHILE MOST OTHER
MODELS ARE SHOWING A SW UPPER FLOW WITH A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT
WORKING INTO THE STATE. CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY LOOKS CERTAIN IN THE
REGION...WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF IT BEING SEVERE...BUT IT/S TOO
EARLY TO PINPOINT WHEN AND WHERE IT WILL HAPPEN. THIS COULD BE A
PROLONGED EVENT. AGAIN CONFIDENCE NOT ALL THAT HIGH...SO FEEL
INHERITED FORECAST LOOKS BEST.  JAMBA

KGGW BBB 067/099 069/101 065/096 78002220
     BBBB 063/089 057/087 059/086 059/086 7600000000
KGDV BBB 067/098 070/101 065/098 78001220
     BBBB 065/095 057/088 059/087 059/089 7600000000

.GGW...LAKE WIND ADVISORY FOR FORT PECK LAKE THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 10, 5:04 AM MST, 18 hours 57 minutes before

MTZ016>027-059>062-111200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
604 AM MDT SUN AUG 10 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA

.DAY ONE...
A LAKE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR FORT PECK LAKE THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH THIS EVENING. REFER TO GTFNPWGGW OR WWUS75 KGGW FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY
EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE WITH STRONG WINDS.

.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.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Garfield

When: August 11, 12:01 AM MST to August 15, 11:59 PM MST
Where: Garfield County, Countywide
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.278, -106.993 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, August 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: 5375201.