Winter Storm in Montana, February 16 to 17, 2003

Name: Winter Storm in Montana, February 16 to 17, 2003
Start: 2003-02-16T07:00
End: 2003-02-17T11:00
Location: Montana

February 16 to 17, 2003 · NWS MSO · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Winter storm brought heavy snow and gusty southwest winds to the mountains of northwest and west central Montana. Snowfall amounts ranged from 6 inches at Banfield Mountain and Poorman Creek, 8 inches at Bear Mountain, 9 inches at Lookout Passand Marshall Mountain Ski Resorts, to 19 inches at Lolo Pass.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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.

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 Feb 16, 2:30 AM MST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 16, 2:30 AM MST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
230 AM MST SUN FEB 16 2003

.SHORT TERM...FAIRLY QUIET ACROSS THE CWA THIS MORNING BUT THAT IS
GOING TO CHANGE AS WE MOVE THROUGH THE DAY. VERY MOIST SOUTHWEST
FLOW HAS MOVED OVER MUCH OF THE WEST THIS MORNING AS OFFSHORE TROF
NEARS THE PACIFIC COAST. PRECIP H2OS WERE OVER 1.5 INCHES JUST
OFFSHORE OF NRN CA LAST EVENING. RADAR SHOWS DECENT PRECIP SHIELD
OVER ERN WA/OR WITH SOUTH TO NORTH TRAINING OF ECHOES BUT LITTLE
EASTWARD PROGRESSION. HRLY PRECIP TOTALS OF A FEW HUNDRETHS SEEMS
TO BE COMMON TO OUR WEST. THE BAND WILL AFFECT NW MT AND THE WC ID
MTNS THIS MORNING BUT MODELS ARE PRETTY CONSISTENT IN SPLITTING
MUCH OF THE MOISTURE AROUND US THIS MORNING. IT LOOKS LIKE WE WILL
SEE VERY LITTLE PRE-FRONTAL PRECIP THIS MORNING WITH QPF PICKING UP
MAINLY POST-FRONTAL. MODELS BRING SFC COLD FRONT THROUGH THE CWA
AROUND 21Z WITH INSTABILITY INCREASING QUITE A BIT AS COLD POOL ALOFT
MOVES OHD. LAPSE RATES WILL BE ABOUT 7-8C/KM WITH LIS AROUND ZERO
LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO MON. WITH STRONG WESTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW
DEVELOPING WOULD EXPECT SUBSTANTIAL OROGRAPHIC SNOWS OVER THE N-S
RANGES. 24 HR QPF FCSTS SHOW WARNING TYPE SNOW FOR MOST OF THE MTNS
OF WRN MT/WC ID SO WILL GO AHEAD AND UPGRADE CURRENT WATCHES TO
WARNINGS FOR THOSE AREAS. WILL SEE SNOW LEVELS START OUT AROUND
5KFT THEN LOWER TO ABOUT 4KFT OVN. SNOW LEVELS MAY LOWER TO
VALLEY FLOORS IN HEAVIER CONVECTIVE BANDS TONIGHT BUT SHOULD BE
A LOCAL THING AND UNWORTHY OF HIGHLIGHTS. PRE-FRONTAL PRECIP STAYS
SOUTH OF LEMHI CTY AND POST-FRONTAL DOWNSLOPING SHOULD LIMIT PRECIP
THERE TONIGHT SO WILL CANCEL WATCH FOR IDZ009-010.

INSTABILITY REMAINS RATHER HIGH THROUGH MON AND WITH ZONAL FLOW
PERSISTING...WILL KEEP AT LEAST CHC POPS FOR THE VALLEYS WITH HIGHER
POPS IN THE MTNS...ESP OROGRAPHICALLY FAVORED AREAS. NEXT WAVE
MOVES OVER THE AREA LATER TUE FOR INCREASING POPS AGAIN. WRIGHT

.LONG TERM...EXTENDED MODELS AGREE ON TIMING OF WEDNESDAY NIGHT
SYSTEM ALTHOUGH EUROPEAN MODELS FOCUS ENERGY SOUTH...REGARDLESS
WEATHER TREND FOR EVENT ON THAT DAY LOOKS GOOD WITH INHERITED
FORECAST...ALSO LIKELY POPS LOOK REASONABLE FOR THAT DAY. THURSDAY
THROUGH FRIDAY WILL SEE MOIST NORTHWEST FLOW OVER THE AREA AS
WEDNESDAYS SYSTEM PUSHES EAST WITH COOLING TREND AND POSSIBILITY OF
ARCTIC AIR MOVING OVER CWA ON FRIDAY. NEEDED TO TREND TEMPERATURES
DOWN TO REFLECT COOLING. MODEL GUIDANCE FOR DAY 7 DIFFERS WITH MRF
WARMING UNDER FLAT RIDGE MOVING OVER CWA WHILE ECMWF BUILDS SHARPER
RIDGE WEST OF OUR CWA AND COOLS. ENDED UP WARMING TEMPS A BIT FROM
FRIDAY BUT NOT BITING YET ON MAJOR WARMING TREND.  MWJ

.MSO...WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY AFTERNOON
        IDZ005-006-MTZ006
       WINTER STORM WARNING SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO MONDAY AFTERNOON
        MTZ001-002-004-043.

...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB REE /044 032/043 030/044 3285544
     SEEE 029/042 026/039 024/035 027/036 030/ 2856422553/
FCA REE /042 029/039 028/041 3275445
     WEEE 026/038 021/035 016/031 020/032 022/ 2846522443/
POL RER /044 030/040 027/041 3275435
     WEEE 029/038 025/035 022/032 024/036 025/ 2846522443/
MSO REE /046 030/040 025/043 3265425
     WEEE 029/040 025/037 021/032 026/037 027/ 2845522443/
HMM REE /045 028/039 024/042 3275425
     WEEE 028/041 023/038 022/032 025/042 026/ 2835532443/
BTM SEE /044 021/036 015/039 3255222
     EEEE 021/036 014/033 011/027 020/035 021/ 2824422444/
ORO RER /050 036/048 034/048 3285425
     RERE 032/046 032/043 031/045 034/049 038/ 2867511553/
GRV RER /043 029/041 027/046 3285536
     WEOE 027/044 024/041 025/038 026/040 027/ 2857422553/
SMN REE /038 019/037 019/038 3265332
     SEEE 019/036 021/033 020/030 020/037 021/ 2835532444/

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 16, 6:00 AM MST, 1 hour before

MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-171300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
600 AM MST SUN FEB 16 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH
CENTRAL IDAHO

.DAY ONE... TODAY

A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN
MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY
AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS
THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. PLEASE REFER TO GTFWSWMSO FOR DETAILS.

THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL MOUNTAIN SNOWFALL LATE WEDNESDAY
THROUGH THURSDAY AS ANOTHER PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE
REGION.

.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

4 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Blackfoot Region

When: February 16, 7:00 AM MST to February 17, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Blackfoot Region forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.986, -113.597 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kootenai/Cabinet Region

When: February 16, 11:00 AM MST to February 17, 11:00 AM MST
Where: Kootenai/Cabinet Region forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 48.171, -114.863 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Lower Clark Fork Region

When: February 16, 11:00 AM MST to February 17, 11:00 AM MST
Where: Lower Clark Fork Region forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 47.286, -114.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Bitterroot / Sapphire Mountains

When: February 16, 11:00 AM MST to February 17, 11:00 AM MST
Where: Bitterroot / Sapphire Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 46.508, -113.828 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Montana in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Montana, February 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: 5343050, 5343047, 5343048, 5343049.