1 high wind, 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 Jan 2, 2:51 AM MST, 44 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
251 AM MST THU JAN 02 2003
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND FRI...
WINDS IN LIVINGSTON AREA MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM THIS PACKAGE. ALSO HOW
HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL GET...FLIRTING WITH RECORD HIGHS TODAY AND
FRIDAY.
TODAY...FAST WESTERLY FLOW BUILDS INTO AREA ALOFT. SURFACE WINDS
CURRENTLY GUSTING IN THE 50-60 MPH RANGE IN LIVINGSTON WITH 15-25 MPH IN
BIG TIMBER AS GAP EFFECT HAS SET UP. WARM AIR ADVECTION TODAY WARMS ETA
700 MB TEMPERATURES TO AROUND -3C (-1C IN BUF-KIT) IN LIVINGSTON AREA AS
700-500 MB TEMPERATURES RIDGE MOVES OVERHEAD. 700 MB WINDS WILL INCREASE
TO AROUND 50 KNOTS (WESTERLY) BY 00Z PROVIDING CONTINUED PRESSURE FALLS
EASTERN SLOPES. HIGH TEMPERATURES IN LIVINGSTON SHOULD CLIMB TO AROUND
50 TODAY...WHICH ACCORDING TO LOCAL RESEARCH SHOULD KEEP ATMOSPHERE
UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO KEEP WIND BELOW HIGH WIND CRITERIA. AT THIS TIME
WILL BY INTO MODEL FORECASTS AND KEEP WINDS BELOW CRITERIA BUT WITH VERY
WINDY WORDING. WILL ALSO PUSH WINDS OUT A BIT FURTHER TOWARDS BIG TIMBER
DUE TO LACK OF STRONG STABILITY. VERY WARM AIR PROGGED TO MOVE OVER
CENTRAL/EASTERN MONTANA AT 850 MB...WITH STRONG INVERSIONS OVER EASTERN
ZONES. IF THESE LOCATIONS WERE TO MIX HIGHER...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES
ARE LIKELY...BUT DONT THINK THEY WILL AND WILL CONTINUE TO FORECAST
MID/UPPER 40S THERE. FURTHER WEST...50S LOOK LIKELY.
FAST WESTERLY FLOW CONTINUES INTO TONIGHT WITH ANOTHER WAVE PROGGED TO
SLIDE INTO NORTHWEST MONTANA BY 12Z. ETA/AVN HAVE BEEN PRETTY
CONSISTENT WITH THIS WAVE. 700 MB TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN IN THE -3C
TO -4C AREA OVERNIGHT IN WESTERN ZONES AS WELL AS GENERAL 700-500 MB
TEMPERATURE AXIS...ALTHOUGH IT IS FLATTENED SLIGHTLY. THIS IS ANOTHER
TRICKY TIME FOR LIVINGSTON WINDS AS TEMPERATURES COOL AT SURFACE
GAP EFFECT WINDS WILL LIKELY SET UP AGAIN AS LOWER LEVELS STABILIZE
ENOUGH FOR WINDS TO FLIRT WITH HIGH WIND CRITERIA. FORECASTED IDA-LWT
PRESSURE DIFFERENCES NOT THAT GREAT AND ALSO PRESSURE GRADIENT
ORIENTATION NOT THAT GREAT. THUS WILL CONTINUE TO WORD FOR VERY WINDY
CONDITIONS. WILL RAISE LOWS BACK UP IN LIVINGSTON.
FRIDAY...ETA SWINGS A WEAK WAVE ACROSS THE AREA WITH BEST ENERGY OVER
NORTHEAST MONTANA. SYSTEM LOOKS PRETTY DRY AT THIS TIME IN OUR FORECAST
AREA AND WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP EASTERN ZONES DRY. STRONGER WAVE MOVES
INTO SOUTHERN CANADA WHICH ACTS TO SHIFT TEMPERATURE AND THICKNESS AXIS
A BIT FURTHER TO THE EAST BY AFTERNOON. ATMOSPHERE SHOULD DE-STABILIZE
ENOUGH IN LVM TO BRING WINDS DOWN THERE A BIT. TEMPERATURES LOOK VERY
MILD AGAIN...PER CURRENT FORECAST.
FRIDAY NIGHT...PRETTY BIG DIFFERENCES EVIDENT IN GFS/ETA SOLUTIONS
REGARDING SHORTWAVE ENERGY. ETA SWINGS STRONG WAVE SOUTHWARD ACROSS
EASTERN ZONES...WITH GFS WEAKER AND TAKING THE ENERGY FURTHER EAST.
TEND TO LEAN TOWARDS THE GFS SOLUTION BUT WILL WORK SOME POPS INTO
EASTERN ZONES TO MATCH GGWS THINKING. IF ETA SOLUTION VERIFIES MAY BE
WINDY NIGHT EAST AS WELL. RASCH
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...WED...
MEDIUM RANGE MODELS IN OK AGREEMENT. NO MAJOR CHANGES TO GOING
FORECAST. UPPER RIDGE WILL BE BUMPED DOWN TEMPORARILY BY CLIPPER SYSTEM
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. PATTERN NOT VERY FAVORABLE FOR PRECIP WITH
SFC LOW IN SOUTHERN CANADA...BUT WILL LEAVE GOING POPS IN EASTERN
ZONES AS MODELS STILL HINTING WITH SOME PRECIP SATURDAY NIGHT WITH WARM
AIR ADVECTION AND SUNDAY WITH COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE. EXPECT SUNDAY TO BE
A VERY WINDY DAY ACROSS THE PLAINS...SPLY FAR EAST. UPPER RIDGE TO BUILD
BACK INTO ZONES MONDAY AND TUESDAY. EXPECT VERY MILD TEMPS INTO THE
LOWER TO MID 50S BOTH DAYS. THIS SETTING THE STAGE FOR A POSSIBLE
BIG CHANGE ON WEDNESDAY. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ALL TO SOME DEGREE COOL
THINGS DOWN WITH A COLD FRONT WEDNESDAY. GFS SHOWING 507 DM THICKNESS
INTO NORTHEAST MONTANA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. IF PATTERNS HOLDS...EXPECT A
WIDE RANGE OF HIGH TEMPS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH WED. WILL MAKE A FEW
ADJUSTMENTS TO TEMPS AND LEAVE IN GOING POPS. STILL A BIT FAR TO HANG
HAT ON MAJOR CHANGE BUT MODELS HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT CONSISTENT BRINGING IN
MUCH COLDER TEMPS AND SNOW TO AREA BY MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. SCARLETT
TDY FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 052 031/054 034/050 034/048 034/053 034/054 033/037
0/B 00/E 00/E 00/B 00/B 00/B 03/J
LVM 049 035/052 036/047 030/045 030/054 030/054 029/036
0/N 00/N 00/N 00/B 00/B 00/B 03/J
HDN 053 029/051 028/053 031/047 031/056 032/056 031/036
0/B 00/E 03/O 30/B 00/B 00/B 03/J
MLS 047 025/049 025/046 025/042 025/051 024/054 027/033
0/B 00/B 23/O 33/O 30/E 00/B 03/J
4BQ 051 027/053 024/045 024/041 024/050 023/052 028/040
0/U 00/B 20/E 03/O 30/B 00/B 03/J
BHK 043 024/045 022/043 021/040 021/048 020/050 024/032
0/U 00/C 22/O 23/O 30/E 00/B 03/J
SHR 048 027/052 025/047 028/044 028/048 027/051 025/045
0/B 00/E 10/E 00/B 00/B 00/B 03/J
.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-021215- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 510 AM MST WED JAN 1 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. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
54 mph sustained wind at the Livingston Airport
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, January 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: 5338663.