Montana, 2003

Flooding in Montana, March 13 to 14, 2003

March 13 to 14, 2003 · NWS GGW · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Flooding was reported in low lying areas along the Cedar Creek in Wibaux, Dawson and Prairie counties due to rapid snowmelt on March 13th. The bridge on Marsh Road 15 miles south of Glendive was almost washed out at 7:00 am on March 14th.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
3

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 GGW wrote it up.

Flooding was reported in low lying areas along the Cedar Creek in Wibaux, Dawson and Prairie counties due to rapid snowmelt on March 13th. The bridge on Marsh Road 15 miles south of Glendive was almost washed out at 7:00 am on March 14th. The water flooded Montana Highway 335 at the Cedar Creek bridge on the morning of the 14th. The flood quickly receded that afternoon.

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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 13, 2:45 PM MST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 13, 2:45 PM MST, 1 hour 15 minutes before
NORTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
245 PM MST THU MAR 13 2003

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THRU SUNDAY
WATER VAPOR SHOWING UPPER RIDGE AXIS CRESTING OVER THE CWA THIS
AFTERNOON...HOLDING STRONG AS IT PROGRESSES EAST. UPPER TROF OFF THE
WEST COAST DIGGING A BIT AND BECOMING NEGATIVELY TILTED. THIS TROF IS
EXPECTED TO MOVE INLAND AND ACROSS THE WESTERN STATES BY THE WEEKEND.

TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN PROBLEMATIC TODAY AS SNOWCOVER IS COOLING THE
WARM AIRMASS. AM EXPECTING INVERSIONS SETTING UP TONIGHT TO BRING
PATCHY FOG TO RIVER VALLEYS OF THE NORTH AND EAST.

WITH THE UPPER RIDGE POSITIONED TO OUR EAST AND DISTURBANCES RIDING NE
ACROSS THE CWA THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...INVERSIONS SHOULD LESSEN. PERIODS
OF CLOUDS AND VIRGA WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY A DISTURBANCE FRIDAY NIGHT.
ANOTHER DISTURBANCE TO ARRIVE ABOUT SUNDAY SHOULD SPIN UP OVER THE AREA
BRINGING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. NOTED THAT THIS SYSTEM A BIT
WEAKER AND FASTER ON THIS MORNING/S GFS RUN COMPARED WHAT YESTERDAY/S
RUN SHOWED. ADDED POPS TO SUNDAY ACCORDINGLY.

HYDRO-WISE...LOCAL STREAM PROBLEMS ARE OF CONCERN THE NEXT COUPLE OF
DAYS WITH THIS RAPID WARM-UP. SNOW WATER EQUIVALENTS OF .75 TO 1.5
INCHES WERE COMMON AS OF MONDAY. SNOWPACK RIPENING TODAY SHOULD RELEASE
WATER TOMORROW AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY. SPSGGW HAS CONCERNS COVERED
WELL.

.LONG TERM...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY
MODELS AGREE WITH KEEPING A MAJOR LOW OFF PAC NORTHWEST COAST
...SINKING SOUTH FROM GULF OF ALASKA AND TRANSITIONING REGIONAL FLOW
INTO A MORE ZONAL PATTERN TROUGH BULK OF PERIOD. GFS DIFFERS FROM
CANADIAN AND ECMWF SOLUTIONS BY BEING MORE PROGRESSIVE WITH WAVE
CROSSING GREAT PLAINS MONDAY/TUESDAY...CANADIAN/ECMWF DEVELOP CLOSED
LOW IN SPLIT SOUTHERN FLOW OVER SOUTHCENTRAL PLAINS. SATISFACTORY
RUN TO RUN CONTINUITY IN PAST TWO GFS RUNS...THUS WILL TREND
FORECAST TO FAVOR MORE ZONAL REGIME. RESULT EXPECTED TO BE
PREVAILING DOWNSLOPE FLOW...KEEPING REGION LARGELY DRY WITH MODEST
COOLING FROM CURRENT UNSEASONABLE WARMTH UNDER AMPLIFIED WESTERN
RIDGE. GFS DISPLAYS A MORE AMPLIFIED TROUGH THURSDAY...WORKING
INLAND FROM EAST PACIFIC ACROSS INTERIOR PAC NORTHWEST. TROUGH
TENDING TO FLATTEN AS IT WORKS INLAND...THUS WILL DISCOUNT RISK OF
PRECIPITATION UNTIL BEYOND FORECAST PERIOD. ASIDE FROM REMOVING
CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION FROM MONDAY/TUESDAY PERIOD...WILL MAKE MINOR
CHANGES FROM CURRENT FORECAST. TEMPERATURES ALTERED SLIGHTLY TO
ADJUST TO ADJACENT OFFICES...COORDINATION LOOKS GOOD.  DNS

KGGW BBE 027/060 032/059 032/049 76000002
     EEBE 029/045 028/042 024/042 026/044 8600000000
KGDV BBE 031/063 032/061 034/052 76000002
     EEBE 031/048 028/043 026/043 025/044 8600000000

.GGW...NONE.
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 13, 5:57 AM MST, 10 hours 3 minutes before
MTZ016>027-059>062-141300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
557 AM MST THU MAR 13 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA

.DAY ONE...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

SIMONSEN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 13, 10:30 AM MST, 5 hours 30 minutes before
MTZ016>027-059>062-140400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
1030 AM MST THU MAR 13 2003

...WARMER TEMPERATURES ARRIVE TODAY...

AFTER WEEKS OF WELL BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES OVER THE AREA...A
WARMING TREND HAS STARTED THIS WEEK. TODAY IS THE FIRST TIME SINCE
FEBRUARY 19 THAT MANY LOCATIONS ARE EXPERIENCING ABOVE FREEZING
TEMPERATURES. THE AVERAGE HIGH FOR GLASGOW TODAY IS 39 DEGREES.
DURING THE PAST FEW WEEKS...TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN BETWEEN 20 AND 30
DEGREES BELOW NORMAL.

OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE
SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL...WITH READINGS FROM THE MID 40S NORTH TO
THE MID 60S SOUTH. WITH EXTENSIVE SNOW COVER ACROSS THE AREA...QUICKLY
MELTING SNOW IS EXPECTED. AS OF THIS MORNING...4 TO AS MUCH AS 13
INCHES OF SNOW COVERED THE GROUND.

MELTING SNOW WILL CREATE LOCALIZED AREAS OF STANDING WATER ON AREA
ROADWAYS. ALSO...CREEKS AND CULVERTS...ESPECIALLY ONES THAT ARE
FILLED WITH ICE AND SNOW...WILL BE FILLING UP DUE TO THE RAPID
SNOWMELT.

CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED WHEN TRAVELING. IF DEEP STANDING WATER
COVERS THE ROAD...DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THROUGH IT. FIND AN
ALTERNATE ROUTE INSTEAD.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER LOCAL MEDIA OUTLET FOR
ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION.

JAMBA

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Wibaux

When
March 13, 4:00 PM MST to March 14, 3:00 PM MST
Where
Wibaux forecast zone
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
46.965, -104.249 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Dawson

When
March 13, 4:00 PM MST to March 14, 3:00 PM MST
Where
Dawson forecast zone
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
47.266, -104.899 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Prairie

When
March 13, 4:00 PM MST to March 14, 3:00 PM MST
Where
Prairie forecast zone
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
46.861, -105.378 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Montana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, March 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: 5349270, 5349271, 5349272.