Heavy Snow in Montana, March 9, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Montana, March 9, 2003
Start: 2003-03-09T23:00
End: 2003-03-09T23:00
Location: Montana

March 9, 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 9, 9:14 PM MST, 1 hour 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 9, 9:14 PM MST, 1 hour 46 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
914 PM MST SUN MAR 9 2003

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR MON AND TUE...
UPDATES FORTHCOMING.

HAVE EXTENDED THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TREASURE AND NORTHERN
ROSEBUD COUNTIES FOR TONIGHT. BANDS ARE PERSISTENT THERE. HAVE ALSO
ADJUSTED THE TEMPERATURES SOMEWHAT. THE WARMING HAS NOT QUITE TAKEN
PLACE AS FAST AS ORIGINALLY THOUGHT. SO HAVE ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY. THE
IDEA...HOWEVER IS RIGHT. THE COLD AIR DOME OVER BILLINGS THIS
AFTERNOON WAS 7696 FEET MSL OR 4696 FEET AGL OVER TOWN...ACCORDING
TO ACARS. WARM AIR ADVECTION IS GOING ON AT THE 850 MB LEVEL...BUT STILL
MORE OR LESS NEUTRAL ABOVE THAT. SO NOT WARMING THINGS QUITE AS MUCH
APPEARS REASONABLE. CHB

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR WED...THU...FRI...SAT...SUN...
MODELS REMAIN IN GENERALLY GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD.
REGION TRANSITIONS FROM NORTHWEST FLOW TO WESTERLY FLOW ON WEDNESDAY
WITH COLD AIR AFFECTING EASTERN CWA ON TUESDAY BEING PUSHED EAST.
SEVERAL WAVES THROUGH ZONAL FLOW BUT WITH DOWNSLOPING CONDITIONS MOST
AREAS SHOULD REMAIN DRY. FRIDAY INTO THE WEEKEND TROUGH OFF OF WEST
COAST PUTS AREA INTO SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT...WITH DECENT WAVE ROTATING
NORTHEAST FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. WILL EXPAND POPS FOR CLIMATOLOGICALLY
FAVORED SOUTHWEST INTO FRIDAY AS WELL AS SATURDAY. AS FOR TEMPS...
THERMAL RIDGE BUILDS INTO MONTANA BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND LINGERS
INTO EARLY WEEKEND. GUIDANCE NUMBERS TOPPING OUT ABOVE 60 DEGREES
BEGINNING ON WEDNESDAY...BUT WITH AMPLE SNOW COVER WILL GO CONSERVATIVE
FOR NOW. WILL PLAY THURSDAY AND FRIDAY AS WARMEST DAYS AS SNOW COVER
DIMINISHES AND TEMPS ALOFT REACH AS HIGH AS 15 DEGREES AT 850MB. WAVE
ROTATING THROUGH SOUTHWEST FLOW SENDS THERMAL RIDGE EAST SATURDAY INTO
SUNDAY. SNOW SHOULD BE ALL BUT GONE BY THIS PERIOD SO DESPITE COOLER
TEMPS ALOFT...SURFACE TEMPS SHOULD STILL REACH INTO THE 50S IN MOST
AREAS. JZ

    MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 902/039 018/042 026/049 035/059 036/057 034/054 034/055
    40/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/E    00/B
LVM 008/044 017/047 026/052 035/059 034/057 034/053 034/055
    40/N    00/E    00/N    00/B    03/W    33/W    30/B
HDN 002/041 017/044 025/050 032/061 033/058 033/055 033/056
    40/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
MLS 902/034 017/037 021/046 028/055 031/054 029/054 029/055
    72/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
4BQ 006/041 020/044 023/052 030/060 031/057 031/057 031/057
    70/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
BHK 903/031 015/034 018/043 026/051 030/054 028/052 028/054
    72/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B
SHR 001/045 020/048 024/053 030/060 032/059 032/058 032/057
    40/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B    00/B

.BYZ...
MT...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES MTZ030>031.

WY...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 9, 9:39 PM MST, 1 hour 21 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-101200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
939 PM MST SUN MAR 9 2003

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

.DAY ONE...
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES FOR SNOW CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT INTO
EARLY MONDAY MORNING FOR PARTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA. PLEASE SEE
THE LATEST GTFWSWBYZ STATEMENT FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.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, Treasure

When: March 9, 11:00 PM MST
Where: Treasure forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 46.212, -107.272 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

13 inches of snow in Hysham

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: 5345360.