Name: Heavy Snow in Montana, March 8, 2003
Start: 2003-03-08T16:51
End: 2003-03-08T16:51
Location: Montana

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 8, 3:58 PM MST, 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 8, 3:58 PM MST, 53 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 8, 5:10 AM MST, 11 hours 41 minutes before

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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, Northern Rosebud

When: March 8, 4:51 PM MST
Where: Northern Rosebud forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.230, -106.731 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

14 inches of snow 12 miles west of Sumatra

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

More

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: 5344340.