Heavy Snow in Montana, March 18, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Montana, March 18, 2003
Start: 2003-03-18T13:30
End: 2003-03-18T13:30
Location: Montana

March 18, 2003 · NWS BYZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: 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 Mar 18, 9:14 AM MST, 4 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 18, 9:14 AM MST, 4 hours 16 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
914 AM MST TUE MAR 18 2003

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND WED...

UPDATE TO ZONES. NO UPDATE FOR AFP. GOOD MOISTURE FETCH CONTINUES TO
MOVE INTO SOUTHEAST MONTANA FROM DEEP LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER COLORADO.
THIS MOISTURE HAS WORKED ITS WAY INTO THE WESTERN ZONES. TEMPERATURES
HAVE BEEN SLOWLY DROPPING DURING THE MORNING AND MOST AREAS HAVE CHANGED
OVER TO ALL SNOW WITH DYNAMIC COOLING. LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW IS NOW
FALLING IN LIVINGSTON AND HAVE EXPANDED WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TO
INCLUDE THEM ALSO. ON GOING ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS ALSO IN GOOD SHAPE
BASED ON OBSERVATIONS AROUND THE FORECAST AREA. FREEZING RAIN
STILL FALLING IN FALLON COUNTY AND CURRENT GRIDS HAS THIS COVERED WELL.
FREEZING RAIN WILL CHANGE OVER TO SNOW BY LATE MORNING. REMAINDER OF THE
GRIDS LOOK IN GOOD SHAPE AND NO OTHER UPDATES NEEDED. GFS STILL DOING A
GOOD JOB IN DEPICTING COLD POOL OVER THE AREA ALONG WITH ITS QPF FIELDS
AND UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS. RICHMOND

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

AM NOT MAKING THAT MANY CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED THIS TIME.
MAIN PROBLEM IS THE TIMING OF SHORT WAVES THROUGH ESSENTIALLY A
WESTERLY FLOW OVER THE AREA. THESE RIPPLES COULD PRODUCE
PRECIPITATION POSSIBILITIES THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE PERIOD. BUT
CONFIDENCE IS NOT THAT STRONG TO MAKE A MENTION OF THAT. PERHAPS SUNDAY
INTO MONDAY...A WEATHER FEATURE ADVANCES THROUGH THE COUNTY WARNING AREA
THAT COULD PRODUCE SOME PRECIPITATION. SINCE THIS IS TOWARD THE END OF
THE TIME FRAME...WILL WAIT ON THAT. CHB

    TDY WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 037 027/040 026/048 026/047 030/050 031/054 033/048
    +/S +4/J    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
LVM 039 026/044 026/047 027/046 029/049 030/052 032/045
    +/S +2/J    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
HDN 035 026/040 025/048 024/045 027/051 029/055 031/049
    +/S +6/S    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
MLS 034 025/034 023/043 019/042 024/045 026/050 028/048
    +/S +6/S    00/E    00/B    00/E    00/E    00/E
4BQ 034 026/034 023/042 020/040 024/047 027/051 029/047
    +/S +6/S    33/J    00/B    00/E    00/E    00/E
BHK 033 025/034 022/040 018/039 022/044 024/048 026/044
    +/S +6/S    20/E    00/B    00/E    00/E    00/E
SHR 032 023/034 021/042 023/041 027/049 028/049 030/043
    +/S +7/S    40/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E

.BYZ...
MT...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES MTZ034...
.MTZ056.

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES MTZ030>033...
.MTZ036>038...MTZ058.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES MTZ040>041.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES MTZ029...
.MTZ035...MTZ039...MTZ057.

WY...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONE WYZ099.

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONE WYZ098.

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 18, 5:18 AM MST, 8 hours 12 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-191200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
518 AM MST TUE MAR 18 2003

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

.DAY ONE...
SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN
MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING TODAY INTO TONIGHT. REFER TO
GTFWSWBYZ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. ALSO...RIVERS AND CREEKS ACROSS
SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THEIR SLOW RISE AS THE
SNOW CONTINUES ACROSS THE AREA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
SNOW WILL BE TAPERING OFF DURING WEDNESDAY. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATING
SNOW IS NOT EXPECTED.

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

WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Powder River

When: March 18, 1:30 PM MST
Where: Powder River forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 45.395, -105.630 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

12 inches of snow 14 miles north of Sonnette

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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, 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: 5345480.