A strong cold front and associated upper level storm system combined to bring locally heavy snow to the Bear Lodge Mountains during the early morning. Snowfall across the area was generally 1 to 3 inches, with local amounts up to 6 inches reported near Hulett.
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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.
The episode as NWS UNR wrote it up.
A strong cold front and associated upper level storm system combined to bring locally heavy snow to the Bear Lodge Mountains during the early morning. Snowfall across the area was generally 1 to 3 inches, with local amounts up to 6 inches reported near Hulett.
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 Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 14, 7:20 PM MST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 720 PM MST SUN DEC 14 2003 .DISCUSSION...CURRENT SURFACE MAP HAS COLD FRONT JUST ENTERING NORTHEAST WYOMING/NORTHWEST SOUTH DAKOTA. AREA OF SNOW ALMOST INTO NORTHEAST WYOMING. SNOW MAY START OUT AS A BRIEF PERIOD OF RAIN...BUT COLD AIR IS RUSHING SOUTHWARD. OVERALL...CURRENT FORECAST IS IN GOOD SHAPE. ONLY AN INCH OR TWO OF SNOWFALL EXPECTED GIVEN THE RAPID MOVEMENT OF 850-700MB FRONTOGENESIS ACROSS THE AREA. SNOW WILL LAST A LONGER IN THE NORTHERN BLACK HILLS AND BEAR LODGE MOUNTAINS DUE TO UPSLOPE. 00Z ETA COMING IN...AND CONTINUES THE TREND OF PREVIOUS RUNS. DRY AIR SPILLS IN RAPIDLY TOMORROW...AND WILL BRING A QUICK END TO THE SNOW ACROSS THE AREA. MAIN CONCERN FROM THIS EVENT WILL BE THE STRONG WINDS. 850MB WINDS...900MB GEOSTROPHIC WINDS...MOMENTUM TRANSFER ALL SUGGEST WIND GUSTS BELOW WARNING CRITERIA. HOWEVER...WILL BE CLOSE TO WARNING CRITERIA WITH SUSTAINED WINDS FROM RAPID CITY NORTH TO BUFFALO. WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE FORECAST AT THIS TIME. UPDATED WSW PRODUCT WILL BE ISSUED AROUND 9 PM. && .UNR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .SD...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE NORTHERN BLACK HILLS. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WESTERN AND SOUTH CENTRAL SD. .WY...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE BEAR LODGE MOUNTAINS. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE REMAINDER OF NORTHEASTERN WYOMING. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 652 AM MST SUN DEC 14 2003 SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058- 071-151352- BENNETT-BUTTE-CENTRAL BLACK HILLS-CUSTER CO PLAINS-FALL RIVER-HAAKON- HARDING-HERMOSA FOOT HILLS-JACKSON-MELLETTE-NORTHEASTERN CROOK- NORTHERN BLACK HILLS-NORTHERN CAMPBELL-NORTHERN FOOT HILLS- NORTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-PENNINGTON CO PLAINS-PERKINS-RAPID CITY- SHANNON-SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS-SOUTHERN CAMPBELL-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS- SOUTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-STURGIS/PIEDMONT FOOT HILLS-TODD-TRIPP- WESTERN CROOK-WESTON-WYOMING BLACK HILLS-ZIEBACH- 652 AM MST (752 AM CST) SUN DEC 14 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEASTERN WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AFTER ANOTHER MILD DAY ACROSS THE AREA...A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS NORTHEASTERN WYOMING AND WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA TONIGHT. THIS FRONT... COMBINED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM CROSSING THE NORTHERN PLAINS... WILL BRING A GOOD CHANCE FOR SNOW ACROSS NORTHEAST WYOMING AND FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA...MAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHEAST WYOMING AND FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA BY EARLY MONDAY MORNING. LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHERN BLACK HILLS AND NORTHEAST WYOMING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A CHANCE FOR SNOW WILL CONTINUE ON MONDAY WITH ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF AN INCH OR LESS EXPECTED. ALSO...STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 30 MPH...WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH...WILL RESULT IN SOME AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW INTO MONDAY EVENING. DRY AND MILDER WEATHER WILL THEN RETURN FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, December 2003
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: 5330919.