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 15, 8:05 PM MST, 3 hours 55 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
905 PM MDT FRI AUG 15 2003
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR SAT AND SUN...
SOME UPDATES FORTHCOMING. WILL ALSO UPDATE THE WRKAFP FOR SKY COVER AND
CONFINEMENT OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TONIGHT. MAIN IDEAS OF FORECAST
STILL LOOK GOOD. HAD TO TWEAK A FEW TEMPERATURES AND DEWPOINTS FOR
FINE TUNING THINGS. WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW NEW ETA RUN AND GFS
RUN LINE UP. THEY WERE BETTER THAT WAY WITH THE TREATMENT OF THE UPPER
LOW TODAY THAN WAS THE CASE LAST NIGHT. IF THE RUNS ARE IN BETTER
AGREEMENT...QUITE POSSIBLY TOMORROW NIGHT COULD HAVE A BETTER
POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS THAN PRESENTLY IN THE FORECAST. WILL KEEP
THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH GOING. CHB
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...
MODELS CONTINUE TO DISAGREE WITH THE OVERALL PATTERN IN THE EXTENDED
LEAVING A HIGH LEVEL OF UNCERTAINTY IN THE FORECAST. FORECAST DEPENDANT
ON MOVEMENT OF UPPER TROUGH/UPPER LOW IN THE SHORT TERM AND RECENT MODEL
RUNS HAVE PROVIDED VERY LITTLE CONSISTENCY WITH THIS FEATURE. ALL THE
MODELS INDICATING SOME FORM OF NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TRAILING THE UPPER
TROUGH OVER THE AREA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EXTENDED WITH COOLER AIR
WORKING INTO SOUTHERN MONTANA. STRENGTH OF THE COOLER AIR CONTINUES TO
BE AN ISSUE WITH GFS INDICATING TEMPERATURES ABOUT 15 DEGREES COOLER
THAN GOING FORECAST WITH EUROPEAN AND CANADIAN MODELS MORE IN LINE WITH
WHERE FORECAST IS AT THE PRESENT TIME. FOR NOW WILL LEAVE GOING FORECAST
TEMPS MOSTLY ALONE AND ONLY MAKE A FEW ADJUSTMENTS TO MONDAY AND
TUESDAY. MACZKO
SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 072/098 071/092 064/090 064/091 063/089 062/089 062/085
00/G 03/T 22/T 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/B
LVM 058/096 057/088 055/088 055/089 054/087 053/087 053/083
02/T 22/T 22/T 00/U 00/B 00/B 00/B
HDN 069/101 068/094 062/091 062/092 061/090 060/090 060/086
00/G 02/T 22/T 00/G 00/G 00/G 00/B
MLS 070/104 070/097 062/091 062/092 061/092 060/090 060/088
00/G 02/T 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/G 00/B
4BQ 070/102 070/096 061/093 061/094 060/092 059/092 059/088
00/G 02/T 22/T 20/G 00/G 00/G 00/B
BHK 066/102 064/094 060/089 060/090 059/088 058/088 058/084
00/G 00/G 20/B 00/G 00/B 00/B 00/B
SHR 062/099 062/092 060/090 060/091 059/089 058/089 058/085
02/T 23/T 32/T 20/G 00/B 00/B 00/B
.BYZ...
MT...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 123 THROUGH 133 SATURDAY
AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY.
WY...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE 284 SATURDAY AFTERNOON
THROUGH SUNDAY.MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-161100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION FOR WYOMING CODING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 347 PM MDT FRI AUG 15 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A FIRE WEATHER WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH ALL DAY SUNDAY FOR INCREASING WINDS WITH A FRONTAL PASSAGE...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS...VERY HIGH FIRE DANGERS...VERY LOW HUMIDITIES...AND ACTIVE FIRES. FOR DETAILS...PLEASE SEE GTFRFWBYZ. .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.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Cathedral PeakCause: Lightning StrikeBegin Date: August 16, 2003End Date: September 30, 2003Acres Burned: 3000Structural Loss: 1Cost: 250,000K
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: 5327780.