Hail in Montana, June 15, 2003

Name: Hail in Montana, June 15, 2003
Start: 2003-06-15T18:05
End: 2003-06-15T18:05
Location: Montana

June 15, 2003 · NWS TFX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

50 inch hail at Denton 11NE.

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 happened

The episode as NWS TFX wrote it up.

A severe thunderstorm produced 1.50 inch hail at Denton 11NE.

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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 15, 1:15 PM MST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 15, 1:15 PM MST, 4 hours 50 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
215 PM MDT SUN JUN 15 2003

.SHORT TERM...SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT CONTINUES THROUGH
TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS APPEAR TO BE MOST ACTIVE OVER
SOUTHWEST MONTANA AND ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE CWA.
ACTIVITY SEEMS TO BE FOLLOWING 300MB JET PASSAGE. WILL GO WITH
SCATTERED POPS ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST AND EAST WITH ISOLATED POPS
FURTHER NORTH AND WEST. FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE WESTERLY MONDAY
THOUGH AIRMASS STILL UNSTABLE WITH SOUTHWEST AGAIN UNDER GREATEST
THREAT FOR CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY. UPPER RIDGE THEN BUILDS OVER THE
AREA TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY FOR DRY AND WARM CONDITIONS. MODELS
CONTINUE TO BRING A WEAK SHORT WAVE TO THE YELLOWSTONE AREA
WEDNESDAY AND PRODUCE SOME QPF. WILL GO WITH ISOLATED POPS TO COVER
THIS. TEMPERATURES WELL ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
EMANUEL

.LONG TERM...EXPECT A PACIFIC COLD FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TO
APPROACH THE AREA ON THURSDAY. THE TIMING OF THESE FEATURES IS
CRITICAL FOR DAYTIME TEMPERATURES AND PRECIP. IF THE FRONT DOES NOT
ARRIVE UNTIL THE EVENING HOURS...EXPECT ANOTHER HOT AND DRY DAY.
HOWEVER...CURRENT FORECAST HAS IT ARRIVING IN THE AFTERNOON...SO IT
SHOULD NOT BE AS HOT. SECONDLY...THE TIMING OF AN UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH THE REGION EARLY THURSDAY MORNING...MAY
ALLOW FOR A BIT MORE CLOUD COVER. EITHER WAY...THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD
DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION BY LATE IN THE DAY...ALONG WITH WARM
TEMPERATURES. THE UPPER TROUGH CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST ACROSS MONTANA
ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...CONTINUING THE CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION.
HOWEVER...BREEZY WESTERLY DOWNSLOPE WINDS DEVELOP DURING THE
PERIOD...FOR ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION ALONG THE ROCKY
MOUNTAIN FRONT AND ADJACENT PLAINS. COOLER AIR ALSO MOVES INTO THE
REGION FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...ALLOWING HIGH TEMPERATURES TO FALL INTO
THE MID 60S AND 70S BY SATURDAY.  BRUSDA/COULSTON

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF BB 052/082 052/085 054 08222
    BBBBB 089/056 081/045 074/041 071/041 072 00002333220
CTB BB 048/080 050/082 053 08121
    BBBBB 085/056 079/045 073/041 070/041 071 00012332220
HLN BB 053/083 053/085 055 08322
    BBBBB 089/058 082/049 079/045 076/045 077 00213332330
BZN BB 049/081 050/083 051 08433
    BBBBB 086/053 079/047 076/043 073/043 075 00212332330
WEY BB 038/072 040/075 045 08433
    BBBBB 080/052 077/046 074/042 071/042 074 33222233331
DLN BB 048/081 050/083 052 08322
    BBBBB 088/055 080/049 077/045 074/045 076 0022333233-
HVR BB 054/084 054/087 054 08222
    BBBBB 090/057 083/053 079/049 073/047 074 00000333330
LWT BB 052/080 052/082 052 08433
    BBBBB 086/056 080/052 078/048 075/046 076 00000333330

.TFX...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 15, 5:15 AM MST, 12 hours 50 minutes before

MTZ008>015-044>055-160010-
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
615 AM MDT SUN JUN 15 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER SOUTHWEST AND
CENTRAL MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON...WITH MORE ISOLATED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA. THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL
DIMINISH FROM THE WEST THIS EVENING...LEAVING ISOLATED SHOWERS
ACROSS THE REGION AFTER MIDNIGHT.

NO WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES CURRENTLY IN EFFECT

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 15, 3:59 PM MST, 2 hours 6 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
459 PM MDT SUN JUN 15 2003

TIME(MDT)  .....EVENT  LOCATION..... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...........
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

0435 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0439 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0451 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

NNNN

Local storm report, Jun 15, 4:31 PM MST, 1 hour 34 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
531 PM MDT SUN JUN 15 2003

TIME(MDT)  .....EVENT  LOCATION..... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...........
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

0435 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0439 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0451 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0529 PM    WINDHAM                   MT   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   JUDITH  BASIN

NNNN

Local storm report, Jun 15, 5:37 PM MST, 28 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
637 PM MDT SUN JUN 15 2003

TIME(MDT)  .....EVENT  LOCATION..... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...........
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

0435 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0439 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0451 PM    3 NW MARTINSDALE          MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   MEAGHER

0529 PM    WINDHAM                   MT   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   JUDITH  BASIN

0635 PM    DENTON                    MT   1.25 INCH HAIL
06/15/03   FERGUS

NNNN

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:06 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Fergus

When: June 15, 6:05 PM MST
Where: Fergus County, 11 mi NE of Denton
Measured: 1.5 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 47.433, -109.750

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, June 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: 5366099.