Hail in Montana, July 15, 2003

Name: Hail in Montana, July 15, 2003
Start: 2003-07-15T19:40
End: 2003-07-15T19:40
Location: Montana

July 15, 2003 · NWS BYZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: 1

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 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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 15, 2:20 PM MST, 5 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 2:20 PM MST, 5 hours 20 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
320 PM MDT TUE JUL 15 2003

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR WED AND THU...

SOME THUNDERSTORMS BREWING JUST SOUTH OF AREA OUTLINED TO GET THEM.
HAVE EXPANDED FIRE WEATHER WATCH TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
ALTHOUGH WATCH COVERS ENTIRE STATE...THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH MAINLY
DRY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE OVER THE SOUTH TONIGHT...THEN OVER THE
ENTIRE STATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. A WEST TO
SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL REMAIN OVER THE STATE THROUGH THE PERIOD.
MONSOONAL MOISTURE IS BEING CAUGHT UP WITH THIS FLOW AND THIS WILL CONTI
OVER THE AREA THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. TIMING OF RIPPLES TO SET THINGS
OFF DIFFICULT. MORE OR LESS KEPT TEMPERATURES AS GIVEN...WITH LITTLE
TINKERING. THINGS COULD BE A BIT COOLER OVER THE FAR EAST ON THURSDAY
WITH MORE MOISTURE AROUND AND MIXING NOT AS HIGH THERE AS ELSEWHERE. CHB

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR FRI...SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...

MEDIUM RANGE FORECAST MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH
THE STRENGTH OF THE UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE OVER COLORADO. TIMING
DIFFERENCES ARE APPARENT FROM FRIDAY THROUGH THE EXTENDED FORECAST
PERIOD HOWEVER...AS MODELS DIFFER IN THE PROGRESSION OF AN UPPER LEVEL
LOW ACROSS CANADA FRIDAY AND HOW FAST THE UPPER RIDGE REGAINS STRENGTH
BEHIND THE UPPER LOW. A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE STILL LOOKS ON
TRACK TO MOVE FROM IDAHO INTO THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS FRIDAY
AFTERNOON FOR A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE SOUTHERN ZONES...AND
HAVE ADJUSTED THE TIMING OF THIS IN THE GRIDS SLIGHTLY. MODEL
DIFFERENCES RESULT IN MORE UNCERTAINTY SATURDAY...WITH THE EUROPEAN AND
UKMET MODELS STILL SHOWING SOUTHWEST FLOW ACROSS THE STATE...WHILE THE
EXTENDED GFS MODEL TRANSITIONS FROM NEARLY ZONAL FLOW FRIDAY NIGHT TO
NORTHWEST FLOW SATURDAY. THE GFS MODEL DOES INDICATE ANOTHER WEAK WAVE
MOVING THROUGH THE RIDGE SATURDAY WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN
ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ZONES SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE MOST
RECENT RUNS OF THE GFS HAVE BROUGHT MORE UNCERTAINTY TO THE FORECAST...
WITH INCONSISTENCY IN THE SURFACE PRESSURE FIELDS. FOR FORECAST
CONSISTENCY...AND BECAUSE THE 00Z GFS RUN FROM LAST EVENING SEEMS MORE
REASONABLE...HAVE ONLY MADE MINOR CHANGES FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES.
CARPENTER

GFS IS COMING MORE IN LINE WITH ECMWF FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY WITH STRONG
RIDGE DOMINATING OVER THE FORECAST AREA. ECMWF KEEPS NORTHERN ENERGY
OVER NORTHERN CANADA. THIS WILL BRING SC/SE MT DRY WEATHER AND CONTINUED
ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. RICHMOND

    WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 064/098 064/098 058/087 055/087 055/092 055/087 056/090
    02/T    22/T    20/B    00/B    00/G    00/U    00/G
LVM 056/094 056/092 051/085 049/086 049/089 049/083 051/082
    22/T    22/T    22/T    22/T    20/U    00/U    00/U
HDN 064/100 064/099 057/092 055/092 055/092 055/087 056/092
    02/T    22/T    20/G    00/G    00/G    00/U    00/G
MLS 065/099 065/098 057/088 058/087 054/090 054/084 055/092
    02/T    23/T    30/U    00/U    00/G    00/U    00/G
4BQ 065/099 064/097 058/086 057/084 055/090 055/083 054/091
    22/T    22/T    23/T    33/T    30/G    00/U    00/G
BHK 062/093 064/088 059/085 055/083 053/089 053/082 052/090
    02/T    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/U    00/U    00/G
SHR 060/099 059/096 055/086 051/086 051/091 051/082 053/089
    22/T    22/T    23/T    33/T    33/T    30/U    00/U

.BYZ...
MT...FIRE WEATHER WATCH TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR FIRE WEATHER
     ZONES 123 THROUGH 133.
WY...FIRE WEATHER WATCH TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR FIRE WEATHER
     ZONE 284.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 15, 3:14 PM MST, 4 hours 26 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-161100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
414 PM MDT TUE JUL 15 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST
MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING.

.DAY ONE...
DRY THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT ESPECIALLY OVER THE SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF
THE AREA WILL BE POSSIBLE. FOR THIS REASON...A FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS
IN EFFECT. FOR DETAILS...PLEASE SEE GTFRFWBYZ.

.DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
DRY THUNDERSTORMS WITH GUSTY WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. FOR THIS REASON...THE FIRE
WEATHER WATCH CONTINUES THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. FOR
DETAILS...PLEASE SEE GTFRFWBYZ.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

CHB

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Carter

When: July 15, 7:40 PM MST
Where: Carter County, 6 mi NE of Albion
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.250, -104.200

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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, July 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: 5375666.