Heavy Snow in Wyoming, February 8, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Wyoming, February 8, 2003
Start: 2003-02-08T14:15
End: 2003-02-08T14:15
Location: Wyoming

February 8, 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 8, 8:44 AM MST, 5 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 8, 8:44 AM MST, 5 hours 31 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
844 AM MST SAT FEB 8 2003

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND SUN...

UPDATE FOR ZFP. NO UPDATE FOR AFP. NEW 12Z ETA RUN SHOWING GOOD
INSTABILITY OVER LVM AND BIL AT THIS TIME. WATER VAPOR SATELLITE
CONTINUING TO BRING AMPLE MOISTURE INTO THE AREA ALONG WITH SHORT WAVE
ENERGY. ETA SHOWING GOOD Q VECTOR FORCING FROM BILLINGS WEST ALONG WITH
STRONG 700MB FRONTOGENESIS. KTFX RADAR IS SHOWING GOOD RETURNS AS
WELL AS KBLX. WILL GO AHEAD AND ISSUE SNOW ADVISOR FOR THE LOWER
ELEVATIONS FROM BILLINGS WEST THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW RATIO OF 20:1
LOOK REASONABLE AND WILL GO WITH 2 TO 4 INCH ACCUMULATIONS. CURRENT
HEAVY SNOW WARNINGS FOR SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS LOOKS GOOD DUE TO UPSLOPE
FLOW AND ABOVE MENTION DYNAMICS. HAVE LOWERED HIGH TEMPERATURES
A FEW DEGREES THE WESTERN AREAS. RICHMOND

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...
BLOCKING PATTERN TO REMAIN OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC THROUGH MOST OF THE
EXTENDED WITH UPPER LOW FIRMLY IN PLACE OVER HUDSON BAY. THIS
COMBINATION WILL KEEP NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE FORECAST AREA
THROUGH THE PERIOD AND CONTINUE TO BRING PIECES OF SHORTWAVE ENERGY AND
ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE INTO SOUTHERN MONTANA THROUGH AT LEAST
TUESDAY. FIRST WAVE TO LINGER THROUGH THE DAY ON MONDAY SPECIFICALLY IN
THE SOUTHEAST WHERE ANY SNOW THAT FALLS SHOULD CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY
AFTERNOON. GOING FORECAST COVERS THIS SCENARIO WELL SO WILL NOT BE
MAKING ANY CHANGES TO MONDAY POPS AT THIS TIME. MODELS HINTING AT
ANOTHER WAVE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON BUT WILL KEEP
THINGS DRY FOR NOW AS THIS IS A NEWER SOLUTION AND ADVISE DAY SHIFT
ON POSSIBLE POPS...SINCE THIS WAVE IS BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE THE OTHERS
THAT HAVE MOVED THROUGH THE AREA THIS WEEK. MODELS BRINGING RIDGE
ONSHORE WEDNESDAY WHICH ALLOWS WARMER AND DRIER AIR TO MOVE INTO THE
AREA FOR THE REST OF THE FORECAST. AM A LITTLE HESITANT TO BELIEVE
TIMING OF RIDGE MOVEMENT OR STRENGTH OF THE WARMING SINCE MODELS HAVE
BEEN TRENDING THIS LATER AND LATER ALL WEEK. TEMPERATURE FORECAST
REFLECTS A SLOWER WARMING THAN MODELS INDICATE AND SEE NO NEED TO ADJUST
THEM WITH THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. MACZKO

    TDY SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 026 014/029 021/038 020/039 020/040 021/040 018/039
    +/S 46/J    33/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B
LVM 025 011/028 019/036 019/039 018/041 024/039 016/038
    +/S 46/J    32/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B
HDN 026 014/029 017/040 018/039 018/042 021/041 016/040
    +/S 47/J    34/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B
MLS 029 008/026 017/030 017/036 017/039 016/035 014/034
    7/S 37/J    43/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/E
4BQ 026 010/026 016/035 016/036 015/034 015/038 016/037
    7/S 47/J    66/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/E
BHK 023 003/023 012/024 012/028 013/035 014/032 013/031
    7/S 37/J    43/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/E
SHR 030 008/028 018/036 018/038 018/040 020/036 017/035
    +/S 66/J    66/S    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B

.BYZ...
MT...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR TODAY FOR ZONE MTZ056.

HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR TODAY FOR ZONE MTZ038.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TODAY FOR ZONE MTZ039.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TODAY FOR ZONES MTZ028>029...
MTZ034>035...MTZ040>042.

WY...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR TODAY FOR ZONE WYZ099.

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 8, 5:05 AM MST, 9 hours 10 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-081800-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
505 AM MST SAT FEB 8 2003

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

.DAY ONE...
HEAVY SNOW WARNINGS AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES CONTINUE TO BE IN
EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL 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 8, 2:15 PM MST
Where: Sheridan Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

6 inches of new snow 18 miles west of Sheridan

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: 5341988.