Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, June 19, 2003

Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, June 19, 2003
Start: 2003-06-19T12:50
End: 2003-06-19T14:40
Location: Montana

June 19, 2003 · NWS MSO · 8 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

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.

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: $30,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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 MSO wrote it up.

Strong thunderstorms moved through Ravalli and Missoula Counties between 1250 PM and 240 PM MST, producing large hail and damaging winds. In southern Ravalli County near Sula and Conner, thunderstorms produced three quarter to one inch diameter hail and large branches were blown off a willow tree. Northwest of Missoula near the Wye, a severe thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail, which damaged the Kinderhaus Montessori School's pizza garden. As the storm traveled north over Evaro Hill, it blew a roof off a home which also damaged a parked vehicle. Crop damage was also reported from hail. A Pattee Canyon house was severely damaged from a lightning caused fire. Near Seeley Lake, strong thunderstorm winds blew down trees, which fell onto a home.

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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 19, 8:45 AM MST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 19, 8:45 AM MST, 4 hours 5 minutes before

WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
945 AM MDT THU JUN 19 2003

UPDATE TO ZONES AND STATE BY 10 AM.

.SHORT TERM...A BIT MORE SUNSHINE THIS MORNING THAN PREVIOUSLY
EXPECTED...BUT THAT SHOULD CHANGE QUICKLY AS WE SHOULD REACH OUR
CONVECTIVE TEMPERATURE AND REGENERATE CUMULUS BY MID TO LATE MORNING.
TEMPERATURES AND CONVECTION WILL BE THE ISSUES FOR TODAY. CURRENTLY
HAVE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ZONES SOME 12-16 DEGREES BELOW YESTERDAYS
HIGHS...WITH ONLY ABOUT 5-8 DEGREES COOLING SOUTHEAST ZONES. THERE IS
SOME QUESTION IF THIS MODIFIED PACIFIC AIR MAY GET PUSHED BACK NORTH
AND EAST A BIT AS A SOUTHERLY FLOW AHEAD OF THE WEST COAST TROF
ADVECTS SOME WARMER AIR TO AT LEAST THE BITTERROOT AND MISSOULA
VALLEYS. CURRENT TRENDS WOULD INDICATE THAT WE ARE ON TRACK...BUT
FOR AFOREMENTIONED REASONING...WILL UP TEMPERATURES INTO THE MID 80S
BITTERROOT AND MISSOULA VALLEYS TODAY. CONVECTION IS EXPECTED AGAIN
TODAY...WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS EXPECTED ALONG THE SOUTH AND
EASTERN ZONES...FROM MISSOULA SOUTH...WHERE THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE
EXITING THERMAL TROF AND MODIFIED PACIFIC AIR IS EXPECTED TO BE. THE
LOW LEVELS REMAIN ON THE DRY SIDE...BUT SOUNDINGS FROM SPOKANE AND
BOISE THIS MORNING INDICATE SOME MID LEVEL MOISTENING FROM THE
MODIFIED AIR MASS...WITH WET BULB ZEROS BETWEEN 11 AND 12 THOUSAND
FEET. HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS WILL AGAIN BE THE MAIN THREAT...BUT HEAVY
DOWNPOURS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. CURRENT FORECAST HAS THE AFTERNOON
CONVECTION HANDLED WELL WITH PLACEMENT...AND WILL ADD SOME
POSSIBLE GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL WORDING BUTTE AND SALMON ZONES. MEAD

.LONG TERM...TROUGH REMAINS OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES THROUGH SUNDAY
WITH BELOW NORMAL HEIGHTS AND SHOWERY CONDITIONS. MEDIUM RANGE
MODELS DEPICT A STRONG UPPER LOW MOVING ACROSS THE GULF OF AK
DIGGING SOUTHWARD TOWARD NORTHERN CALIF ON MONDAY. THIS SYSTEM SHOWS
POTENTIAL TO BRING QUITE A BIT OF PRECIPITATION TO THE AREA
STARTING MONDAY AFTERNOON AND LINGERING INTO MID-WEEK. QUESTIONS YET
WITH THE EXACT PLACEMENT OF THE LOW...WITH GFS MUCH FASTER THAN THE
ECMWF AND ENSEMBLES. TEMPERATURES REMAINING ON THE COOL SIDE WITH
CHANCE OF SHOWERS EACH DAY.  BOLDT

.MSO...NONE.

...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS...
LIB EEE /084 051/069 044/066 2823444
     BBEE 045/067 048/072 046/068 048/070 049/ 28422344332
FCA EEB /081 050/068 044/062 2833553
     BBEE 040/064 043/068 042/066 043/069 045/ 28322344332
POL EEB /081 052/069 048/063 2844443
     BBEE 047/065 045/070 044/067 045/069 046/ 28332333332
MSO BEE /085 054/069 045/065 2855442
     BBEE 043/067 045/071 045/069 046/072 048/ 28333333332
HMM BEE /085 052/068 044/065 2855443
     BBEE 042/066 043/071 044/069 045/071 047/ 28333333332
BTM TWE /081 049/069 040/063 2866553
     BBEE 038/064 039/067 039/065 040/067 042/ 28333443332
ORO EEE /083 055/074 049/069 2823443
     BBEB 049/069 051/076 052/072 053/076 055/ 28312333322
GRV BEE /076 051/067 044/066 2844443
     BBBB 042/063 044/070 045/068 047/071 048/ 28322333322
SMN TWE /087 053/070 044/068 2866552
     BBBE 042/067 043/072 042/070 043/074 044/ 28223443332

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 19, 12:08 PM MST, 42 minutes before

MTZ001>007-043-IDZ005>010-201200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
108 PM MDT THU JUN 19 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH
CENTRAL IDAHO

.DAY ONE... TODAY

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE
EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING.
SOME STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. PROGRESSIVELY COOLER
WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND
EARLY NEXT WEEK. TEMPERATURES WILL BE 10 TO 15 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL
BY SATURDAY. MOUNTAIN SNOW LEVELS MAY LOWER TO ABOUT 7000 FEET...
NEAR THE SAME ELEVATION AS LOGAN PASS IN WEST GLACIER PARK...DURING
THE PERIOD.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

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

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Ravalli

When: June 19, 12:50 PM MST
Where: Ravalli County, Conner
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.933, -114.133

Hail, Ravalli

When: June 19, 12:58 PM MST
Where: Ravalli County, Sula
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.833, -113.967

Thunderstorm Wind, Ravalli

When: June 19, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Ravalli County, 3 mi ENE of Sula
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.850, -113.917

Hail, Missoula

When: June 19, 1:40 PM MST
Where: Missoula County, 8 mi W of Missoula
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.883, -114.167

Hail, Missoula

When: June 19, 1:50 PM MST
Where: Missoula County, 5 mi NW of Missoula
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.933, -114.067

Thunderstorm Wind, Missoula

When: June 19, 1:55 PM MST
Where: Missoula County, 12 mi NNW of Missoula
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $30,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 47.050, -114.100

Lightning, Missoula

When: June 19, 2:30 PM MST
Where: Missoula County, 5 mi SE of Missoula
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.037, -113.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorm Wind, Missoula

When: June 19, 2:40 PM MST
Where: Missoula County, Seeley Lake
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 47.267, -113.533

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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: 5362739, 5362740, 5362737, 5362741, 5362742, 5362743, 5362738, 5362744.