1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 8:26 PM MST, 3 hours 34 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
926 PM MDT MON AUG 11 2003
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TUE AND WED...
UPDATED ZFP ON THE WAY...AFP LOOKS OK SO NO UPDATE THERE...SHORTWAVE
MOVING THROUGH EASTERN ZONES CONTINUES TO DEVELOP STRONG AND
OCCASIONALLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AT THIS HOUR. MORE ISOLATED
CONVECTION CONTINUES ACROSS WESTERN AREAS. LIGHTNING ACTIVITY HAS BEEN
INCREDIBLE WITH SOME STORMS PRODUCING 50 GROUND STRIKES PER MINUTE.
EXPECT ACTIVITY ACROSS THE EAST TO MOVE OUT OF THE AREA AROUND
MIDNIGHT...ACTIVITY IN THE WEST WILL DISSIPATE OVER THE NEXT HOUR OR
SO. ANOTHER STRONG WAVE INDICATED IN SOUTHERN IDAHO WILL ARRIVE
AROUND 300 AM IN THE SOUTHWEST AND PROGRESS ACROSS THE AREA TOMORROW
FOLLOWED BY A SECOND DISTURBANCE IN THE AFTERNOON. THIS SHOULD SET THE
STAGE FOR ANOTHER ACTIVE THUNDERSTORM DAY. UPDATED WEATHER GRIDS TO
REFLECT LATEST THINKING. WINDS CONTINUE TO BE STRONG ACROSS THE EAST
AND WITH LOW LEVEL JET OVER THE AREA WILL KEEP WIND 15 TO 25 MPH
OVERNIGHT. WITH APPROACHING SURFACE TROF TOMORROW BUMPED SPEEDS UP FOR
THAT TIME FRAME AS WELL. CHAMBERS
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR THU...FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...
UPPER RIDGE AXIS SHIFTS INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS FOR THURSDAY AS A
TROUGH IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO THE PACNW. THE TROUGH IS THEN
FORECAST TO MOVE TROUGH SOUTHERN CANADA AND PUSH A WEAK COLD FRONT
THROUGH THE CWA SATURDAY. 00Z GFS WAS A LITTLE DEEPER WITH THE TROUGH
THAN THE NEW 12Z RUN. GFS ENSEMBLES ALSO HINT THE WAVE MAY BE WEAKER
AND THE ECMWF KEEPS THE WAVE WELL TO THE NORTHWEST. SO THE FORECAST COOL
DOWN MAY BE TOO MUCH...BUT VALUES ARE CURRENTLY AT OR ABOVE MODEL
GUIDANCE. WILL LEAVE THE NUMBERS ALONE...BUT LATER SHIFTS MAY NEED TO
NUDGE THE VALUES BACK CLOSER TO PERSISTENCE. MORE ZONAL FLOW IS
FORECAST BY THE GFS/ECMWF INTO MONDAY...BUT AGAIN THE ENSEMBLES INDICATE
A WEAK RIDGE AND WARMER TEMPERATURES. FORECAST FOR SUN AND MONDAY ARE
STILL FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WHICH IS REASONABLE. CHANCE OF RAIN
DOESNT LOOK THAT GREAT THU THROUGH MONDAY. BEST SHOT SEEMS TO BE FRIDAY
WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE...BUT MOISTURE LOOKS PRETTY SLIM. WILL KEEP
POPS OUT OF THE FORECAST...BUT COULD SEE AN ISOLATED STORM OR TWO
FRIDAY. MOORE
TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 069/099 067/099 069/098 064/090 063/088 061/089 061/090
22/T 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/G
LVM 055/095 054/095 052/091 051/087 051/084 051/085 052/086
23/T 32/T 20/G 00/B 00/U 00/B 00/B
HDN 067/101 065/101 067/100 062/092 061/089 059/091 059/092
22/T 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/B 00/G 00/G
MLS 069/101 067/101 067/101 062/092 061/089 059/089 059/091
30/G 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/G
4BQ 069/101 067/101 065/098 059/091 060/088 058/088 058/091
32/T 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/G
BHK 065/098 064/098 064/095 058/088 059/086 057/086 057/088
40/G 20/G 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
SHR 059/099 057/099 062/099 057/090 059/088 056/089 057/090
32/T 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/G
.BYZ...
MT...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH
CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA.
WY...NONE.MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-121100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 1205 AM TUE AUG 12 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A FIRE WEATHER WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE SAME AREA FOR TUESDAY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG WITH HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. PLEASE REFER TO GTFRFWBYZ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. JZ
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
1040 PM MDT MON AUG 11 2003
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0315 PM CLYDE PARK MT 0.75 INCH HAIL
08/11/03 PARK
WRThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Craig II/Windmill ComplexCause: Lightning StrikeBegin Date: August 12, 2003End Date: August 24, 2003Acres Burned: 9000Structural Loss: 3Cost: 200,000K
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, August 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: 5327779.