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 4, 9:04 AM MST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
904 AM MST SAT JAN 04 2003
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND SUN...
CHANGES TO ZFP AND AFP ON THE WAY. STRONG UPPER WAVE HAS PUSHED INTO
THE CENTRAL DAKOTAS THIS MORNING PER SATELLITE IMAGERY. CLOUDS AND
ASSOCIATED PRECIP HAVE FINALLY EXITED FAR EASTERN CWA AND WILL CLEAR
POPS AND CLOUDS OUT OF FORECAST. WINDS HAVE DIED OFF AS WELL IN THE
EAST...ALLOWING FOR TEMPS TO COOL IN MILES CITY AND BAKER AREA WITH
DECREASED MIXING. LEE SIDE TROUGH DEVELOPING AS NEXT SYSTEM COMES
ONSHORE...AND SHOULD BE MORE PROMINENT BY AFTERNOON. WITH COOL AIR IN
PLACE AND LIMITED MIXING OUT EAST TEMPS WILL STRUGGLE TO REACH LOW 40S
AND WILL DROP TEMPS A FEW DEGREES TO FOLLOW THIS THINKING. OTHERWISE
FORECAST LOOKS ON TRACK WITH ONLY A FEW OTHER MINOR TWEAKS. JZ
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...
CHANGES CONTINUE IN THE EXTENDED AS THE COLDER AIR PROGGED TO REACH THE
AREA ON WEDNESDAY NOW LOOKS MORE LIKE THURSDAY AND IT DOES NOT APPEAR
TO STAY LONG. FOR SUNDAY NIGHT NORTHERLY FLOW ACROSS THE EASTERN
PORTION OF THE AREA WILL GENERATE UPSLOPE AND HAVE SPREAD THE POPS
FURTHER WEST WHICH IS IN AGREEMENT WITH BOTH ETA AND AVN. UNSEASONABLY
WARM RIDGE COVERS THE AREA MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH BETTER DOWNSLOPE ON
TUESDAY HELPING MIX DOWN SOME OF THE WARM AIR ALOFT. THIS SETS THE
STAGE FOR NEAR RECORD HIGHS AROUND 60 DEGREES. A CALIFORNIA UPPER
LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM BEGINS TO UNDERCUT THE RIDGE ON WEDNESDAY AND
THIS ERODES GREAT BASIN PRESSURES AND WEAKENS ANY DOWNSLOPE THUS TEMPS
WEDNESDAY SHOULD BE A LOT COOLER THOUGH STILL MILD FOR THIS TIME OF
YEAR. ARCTIC IS NOW STARTING TO LOOK MORE LIKE A CLIPPER IN NORTHWEST
FLOW AS RIDGE AXIS OVER THE WESTERN STATES IS A BIT MORE DOMINANT AND
SHORTWAVE ENERGY COMING ACROSS THE TOP LOOKS LESS POTENT. WITH WEAKNESS
OF SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE THE TREND OF SOME UPSLOPE FAVORED PRECIPITATION
ON THURSDAY BUT HAVE ELMINATED WEDNESDAY POPS ACROSS THE AREA. BORSUM
TDY SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 050 034/048 030/053 036/059 033/044 014/030 013/038
0/B 30/E 00/B 00/B 00/B 00/E 00/E
LVM 047 035/046 029/051 037/059 031/042 013/028 014/035
0/N 30/E 00/B 00/B 00/B 03/J 33/J
HDN 051 033/047 028/055 035/059 031/044 013/029 011/040
0/B 30/E 20/B 00/B 00/B 00/E 00/E
MLS 045 029/044 023/049 026/055 027/042 009/024 007/028
0/B 32/W 20/B 00/B 00/E 00/B 00/B
4BQ 046 029/046 026/050 026/055 028/046 012/025 007/033
0/B 32/W 20/B 00/B 00/B 00/E 00/B
BHK 042 026/042 021/046 023/052 024/041 006/018 003/029
0/B 32/W 20/B 00/B 00/E 00/B 00/B
SHR 050 030/048 026/053 030/057 028/046 014/028 011/039
0/E 30/E 20/B 00/B 00/B 03/J 33/J
.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-051115- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 745 AM MST SAT JAN 4 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. GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH WILL DEVELOP OVER THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE VALLEY BY EARLY AFTERNOON. LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP OVER THE AREA TONIGHT. PRECIPITATION COULD START OUT AS FREEZING RAIN IN SOUTHEAST MONTANA BEFORE CHANGING OVER TO ALL SNOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA EARLY THURSDAY. AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL ONLY REACH INTO THE 20S WHICH IS NEAR SEASONAL FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE JZ
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
68 mph wind gust 13 miles northeast of Baker
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: 5338806.