Name: Hail in Montana, May 25, 2003
Start: 2003-05-25T16:10
End: 2003-05-25T16:10
Location: Montana

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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 happened

The episode as NWS TFX wrote it up.

A severe thunderstorm produced 1.00 inch hail at Shelby 20SE.

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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 25, 1:15 PM MST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 25, 1:15 PM MST, 2 hours 55 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
215 PM MDT SUN MAY 25 2003

.SHORT TERM...SW FLOW ALOFT WILL DOMINATE TONIGHT THROUGH MON NIGHT
AS A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. TUE FLOW ALOFT WILL
VEER TO NWLY ON TUE AS AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS OVER WRN MT AND ID. THIS
RIDGE THEN MOVES OVER THE FORECAST AREA TUE NIGHT AND SHIFTS E OF
AREA ON WED WITH AREA RETURNING TO SW FLOW ALOFT. MAIN FOCUS DURING
THE PERIOD IS TONIGHT. AIRMASS IS BECOMING MODERATELY UNSTABLE AND
LOOKS LIKE SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA LATER THIS AFTERNOON
AND EARLY EVENING. TSTMS ALREADY FIRING OVER SW MT. PER MORNING
DISCUSSION WILL ADD A THREAT OF STRONGER STORMS INTO THIS EVENING.
EVEN AS EARLY AS LATE THIS EVENING ETA/GFS DIFFER ON SHORTWAVE
ACTIVITY. GFS BRINGS A WAVE THROUGH AFTER MIDNIGHT WHILE ETA HOLDS
OFF UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY MORNING. DUE TO MODEL DIFFERENCES HAVE BACKED
OFF ON INHERITED LIKELY POPS FOR CERTAIN AREAS FOR TONIGHT. MON/MON
EVENING STILL LOOKING UNSETTLED WITH AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS AND MORE
SHORTWAVE ACTIVITY. WILL CONTINUE WITH MAINLY SCATTERED POPS. AIRMASS
DOES NOT LOOK AS UNSTABLE MEMORIAL DAY AFTERNOON AS SUN AFTERNOON SO
AM NOT EXPECTING ANY SEVERE TSTMS. AIRMASS SHOULD BE STABLE AND DRIER
ON TUE SO WILL CONTINUE WITH ZERO POPS. WED GFS HAS AN UNSTABLE
AIRMASS DURING THE AFTERNOON BUT APPEARS TRIGGER TEMPERATURES ARE
HIGHER THAN FORECASTED HIGH TEMPERATURES. A LITTLE RELUCTANT TO
INTRODUCE ISOLATED TSTMS AT THIS POINT BUT LATER SHIFTS WILL WANT TO
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK. BLANK

EXTENDED...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...COLD FRONT TO BE MOVING
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA.WEDNESDAY NIGHT. WILL ADD A SLIGHT CHANCE
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE FORECAST FOR THIS. AN UPPER
LEVEL LOW WILL MOVE OVER SOUTHERN ALBERTA THURSDAY CREATING A STRONG
WESTERLY FLOW OVER THE STATE. WILL DROP THE MENTION OF PRECIPITATION
AND ADD WINDY FOR THE NORTHERN ZONES THURSDAY AFTERNOON WITH THE
DOWNSLOPE CONDITIONS. A DIRTY WESTERLY FLOW WILL THEN BE THE MAIN
FEATURE THROUGH THE WEEKEND. EXPECTING ONLY A FEW MOUNTAIN SHOWERS
AND TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE WITH THIS PATTERN.
MEIER

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF EB 054/077 050/078 047 04443
    BBBBB 087/048 071/045 071/045 075/045 071 00120000000
CTB EB 051/073 047/074 046 04332
    BNBBB 084/049 066/044 064/044 068/045 068 00120000000
HLN TB 056/078 050/080 048 04653
    BBBBB 090/051 073/046 071/046 075/046 074 00120022222
BZN EB 048/078 046/080 044 04433
    BBBBB 086/049 075/045 074/045 078/044 070 00120022222
WEY EB 040/072 038/072 036 04333
    UBBBB 080/039 072/038 065/038 069/038 063 00120022222
DLN EB 050/076 045/079 045 04422
    UBBBB 087/047 074/045 074/045 078/043 069 00120022222
HVR EB 056/080 052/080 048 04433
    BBBBB 086/053 072/049 074/049 078/049 074 00120000000
LWT EB 052/078 049/077 046 04534
    BBBBB 084/052 070/045 072/045 076/046 067 00120000000

.TFX...SMALL STREAM AND CREEK FLOOD ADVISORY FOR MOST OF NORTH
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA THROUGH MEMORIAL DAY.

Hazardous weather outlook, May 25, 9:00 AM MST, 7 hours 10 minutes before

MTZ008>015-044>055-260010-
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1000 AM MDT SUN MAY 25 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
MONTANA

.DAY ONE...TODAY

...A SMALL STREAM AND CREEK FLOOD ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH
MEMORIAL DAY FOR MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA...
FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: BEAVERHEAD -NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT
-EASTERN GLACIER-CASCADE-SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON-LIBERTY
-SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH
BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER -BROADWATER-JEFFERSON-GALLATIN

A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: BEAVERHEAD -CASCADE-SOUTHERN LEWIS
AND CLARK-MADISON-LIBERTY -EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-MEAGHER
-BROADWATER-JEFFERSON-GALLATIN-HILL-BLAINE-CHOUTEAU

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 25, 3:35 PM MST, 35 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
435 PM MDT SUN MAY 25 2003

TIME(MDT)  .....EVENT  LOCATION..... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...........
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

0250 PM    5 W BYNUM                 MT   0.50 INCH HAIL
05/25/03   TETON

0315 PM    15 W FAIRFIELD            MT   0.50 INCH HAIL
05/25/03   TETON

0325 PM    RIMINI                    MT   0.25 INCH HAIL
05/25/03   LEWIS  AND  CLARK

0400 PM    AGAWAM                    MT   0.50 INCH HAIL
05/25/03   TETON                          3/4 INCH RAIN ESTIMATED

0410 PM    10 E PENDROY              MT   1 INCH HAIL
05/25/03   TETON

NNNN

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:10 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Toole

When: May 25, 4:10 PM MST
Where: Toole County, 20 mi SE of Shelby
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 48.300, -111.533

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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, May 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: 5358274.