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, 9:22 AM MST, 1 hour 53 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
922 AM MST THU JAN 2 2003
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND FRI...
MINOR UPDATES PLANNED TO ZONES MAINLY FOR WIND.
WINDS BLOWING STRONGER IN THE LVM AREA THAN WHAT MODELS SUGGEST. IDEA
OF WINDS APPROACHING HIGH WIND CRITERIA ALREADY IN PLACE WITH CURRENT
FCST CALLING FOR WINDS GUSTING TO 55 MPH. WARM AIR REMAINS IN PLACE
THROUGH THE MORNING WHICH WOULD ALLOW WINDS TO SLOWLY INCREASE BEFORE
COLD AIR ADVECTION BEGINS TO MOVE INTO THE REGION AFTER 18Z. WILL TWEAK
WINDS UP ON THE GUST END SLIGHTLY AND WINDS THEN SHOULD SHOW A GRADUAL
DECREASE DURING THE AFTERNOON. WILL SIT ON ISSUING A HIGH WIND WARNING
FOR NOW SINCE SCENARIO IS BORDERLINE CRITERIA BUT WILL MONITOR CLOSELY
FOR POSSIBLE UPDATE LATER THIS MORNING. TEMPS ANOTHER AREA OF CONCERN.
DOWNSLOPE CONDITIONS WILL ALLOW READINGS TO CREEP UP INTO THE LOWER
50S AS FCST...LOWER 40S ALREADY REACHED WEST OF BILLINGS. READINGS ARE
WITHIN 5 DEGREES OF FCST HIGH AT HARLOWTON AND WILL ADJUST TEMPS UP
THERE TODAY. IN THE EAST TEMPS ARE MUCH COOLER WHERE INVERSIONS ARE IN
PLACE...ONLY 14F AT BAKER AT 8AM OB TIME. WILL TWEAK TEMPS DOWN AT
BAKER. ANY ADDITIONAL CHANGES TO CURRENT FCST PACKAGE WILL BE SLIGHT.
SPRINGER
.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 040 024/045 022/043 021/040 021/048 020/050 024/032
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-WYZ098-099-031200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 508 AM MST THU JAN 2 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING. .DAY ONE... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. HOWEVER...STRONG GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS IN THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE VALLEY ARE EXPECTED TODAY...WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 60 MPH POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. HOWEVER...STRONG GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE EASTERN PLAINS ON SUNDAY. JRS WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
50 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: 5338664.