Heavy Snow in Wyoming, February 5, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Wyoming, February 5, 2003
Start: 2003-02-05T20:00
End: 2003-02-05T20:00
Location: Wyoming

February 5, 2003 · NWS BYZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

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

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 Feb 5, 2:51 PM MST, 5 hours 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 5, 2:51 PM MST, 5 hours 9 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
251 PM MST WED FEB 5 2003

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR THU AND FRI...

TONIGHT...COLD FRONT MOVED THROUGH BILLINGS LATE THIS MORNING BRINGING
WITH IT A SHORT DURATION OF SNOW. THIS FRONT HAS SLOWLY SLIPPED TO THE
SOUTH AND WEST DURING THE AFTERNOON. SOUNDINGS FOR LIVINGSTON AND
SHERIDAN REMAIN VERY UNSTABLE. HOWEVER...SHORT WAVE AND ASSOCIATED UPPER
LEVEL DYNAMICS REMAIN FURTHER WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA THAN PREVIOUS
THOUGHT YESTERDAY. RADAR CURRENTLY SHOWING A FEW BANDS OF SNOW TO THE
WEST OF BILLINGS WITH A LARGER AREA OVER SOUTHWESTERN BIG HORN COUNTY.
MOST OF THIS ACTIVITY CONTINUES TO DEVELOP OVER THE SAME AREAS. WINDS IN
BILLINGS HAVE BECOME NORTHERLY BETWEEN 10 AND 20 MPH RESULTING IN
SUBSIDENCE FROM THE HIGHER TERRAIN TO THE NORTH. BELIEVE ACCUMULATION
SNOW IS OVER IN THE CITY OF BILLINGS AND MOST OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
THEREFORE...WILL CANCEL ADVISORY FOR YELLOWSTONE AND NORTHERN BIG HORN
COUNTIES. THE HEAVY BANDS OF SNOW HAVE NOT MADE IT INTO PARK COUNTY.
SURFACE WINDS WERE SOUTHWEST MOST OF THE DAY WITH NORTHWEST WINDS THIS
AFTERNOON. FEEL THAT THIS HAS KILLED OFF ANY ACCUMULATING SNOW CHANCES.
HAVE DECIDED TO DROP HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR PARK COUNTY AS WELL. WILL
LEAVE REMAINING ADVISORIES AS IS AND LET THE EVENING SHIFT UPDATE IF
NEEDED. SNOW SHOULD END ACROSS ALL AREAS AROUND MIDNIGHT. WILL KEEP
LIKELY POPS EARLIER OVER THE SOUTH AND WEST AND TAPER OFF TO SCATTERED
AFTER MIDNIGHT.

THURSDAY & FRIDAY...CONDITIONS DRY OUT RAPIDLY BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AS
ANTICYCLONIC FLOW MOVES OVER THE AREA. SKIES WILL BE PARTLY CLOUDY
WITH TEMPERATURES ABOUT THE SAME AS TODAY. ON FRIDAY...ANOTHER WAVE
DROPS OUT OF CANADA AND SLIDES SOUTHEAST INTO THE DAKOTAS MAINLY
AFFECTING THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE. FLOW WILL BECOME
NORTHWEST. SOME WARM AIR ADVECTION AT 850MB AND 700MB MOVES OVER THE
FORECAST AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON RESULTING IN TEMPERATURES WARMING
SLIGHTLY INTO THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 30S IN MOST AREAS.  HOOLEY

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...WED...

NORTHWEST FLOW ESSENTIALLY CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. MODELS
APPEAR TO BE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT OVER THAT. A SYSTEM COMING IN
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY GIVES A POSSIBILITY OF PRECIPITATION OVER
THE COUNTY WARNING AREA. RIPPLES IN THE FLOW ALOFT KEEP THE POSSIBILITY
OF PRECIPITATION IN THE AREA THROUGH SUNDAY. THE UPPER RIDGE BEGINS A
SLOW PROGRESSION EAST TOWARD THE END OF THE PERIOD AND A MODERATION OF
TEMPERATURES SHOULD TAKE PLACE. ON WEDNESDAY...MOISTURE FROM AN UPPER
LOW SOUTHWEST OF MONTANA SHOULD BE MOVING INTO THE COUNTY WARNING
AREA. PRECIPITATION SHOULD HOLD OFF...HOWEVER. DID NOT DO THAT MUCH
TWEAKING FROM PRESENT PACKAGE. DID PUT IN A CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION ON
SUNDAY FARTHER WEST FROM PREVIOUS PACKAGE. BACK DOOR TROUGH LOOKS LIKE
IT MAY INFLUENCE WEATHER FARTHER WEST. CHB

    THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE     WED
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 010/028 013/035 021/035 022/042 025/042 022/039 023/043
    30/E    00/E    44/J    03/J    30/E    00/E    00/E
LVM 009/023 005/030 017/033 018/041 023/041 023/040 024/042
    90/E    00/E    33/J    00/E    00/B    00/E    00/E
HDN 009/028 016/036 020/037 019/043 021/043 021/041 021/044
    30/B    00/E    44/J    33/J    30/E    00/E    00/E
MLS 007/022 011/030 018/033 017/036 021/037 018/030 016/035
    20/B    00/E    44/J    33/J    30/E    00/E    00/B
4BQ 006/021 011/032 017/032 016/034 020/033 018/031 015/034
    30/B    00/E    44/J    33/J    30/E    00/E    00/B
BHK 005/017 008/024 018/026 012/030 019/031 016/027 014/033
    20/B    00/E    44/J    33/J    30/E    00/E    00/B
SHR 007/022 016/031 017/032 017/038 022/041 020/039 020/039
    90/B    00/E    44/J    33/J    30/E    00/E    00/E

.BYZ...
MT...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES
MTZ034...MTZ038...MTZ041...MTZ056.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR ZONES
MTZ039.

WY...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR ZONES
WYZ098>099.

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 5, 5:14 AM MST, 14 hours 46 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-061215-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
514 AM MST WED FEB 5 2003

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

.DAY ONE...
A WINTER STORM WILL BRING ACCUMULATING SNOW TO SOUTHERN MONTANA AND
NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING BEGINNING LATER THIS MORNING AND CONTINUING
THROUGH THIS EVENING. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES IN SOME AREAS. AS
A RESULT...HEAVY SNOW WARNINGS AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES ARE IN
EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING.
REFER TO GTFWSWBYZ FOR 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

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Sheridan Foothills

When: February 5, 8:00 PM MST
Where: Sheridan Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

6 inches of new snow in Story

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 Wyoming in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Wyoming, February 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: 5341978.