Name: Heavy Snow in Wyoming, March 19, 2003
Start: 2003-03-19T07:00
End: 2003-03-19T07:00
Location: Wyoming

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 19, 3:03 AM MST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 3:03 AM MST, 3 hours 57 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
303 AM MST WED MAR 19 2003

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND THU...

STILL YET SOME SNOW ACTIVITY OVER ABOUT THE EAST HALF OF THE COUNTY
WARNING AREA. THIS WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE DURING THE MORNING...THEN
DWINDLE GRADUALLY. AM NOT LOOKING FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS.

BOTH AVN AND ETA DID NOT DO THAT BADLY IN ALIGNMENT AT 06Z ACCORDING
TO THE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. THEIR GENERAL DEPICTION OF THE SYNOPSIS TO
COME IS SIMILAR. AVN DOES BRING IN A FAIRLY STRONG VORT MAX TONIGHT
INTO THURSDAY OVER SOUTHERN MONTANA AND NORTHERN WYOMING...WHEREAS ETA
MOVES THIS INTO WESTERN MONTANA AND WEAKENS IT. TIME HEIGHT SECTIONS
ON BOTH RUNS SHOW LITTLE IN THE WAY OF LIFT ANYWHERE OVER THE COUNTY
WARNING AREA AFTER THE PRESENT SYSTEM LEAVES. MOREOVER...THE AIRMASS
IS FAIRLY STABLE IN THE NEAR TERM. THERE COULD BE FOGGY AREAS
TONIGHT OVER THE EASTERN ZONES CONSIDERING SOME MELTING OF THE SNOW
AND WIND NOT BEING THAT SIGNIFICANT TONIGHT. SOME LIFT ENTERS THE
PICTURE OVER THE WESTERN ZONES DURING THURSDAY NIGHT AHEAD OF THE NEXT
SHORT WAVE. HAVE INTRODUCED THE CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION THERE AT THAT
TIME.

TEMPERATURES SHOULD EXHIBIT A GRADUAL WARMING TREND THROUGH THE NEAR
TERM. CHB

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

SPLIT UPPER LEVEL FLOW WILL RETURN TO ZONAL FLOW FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
AS MOST OF THE MAIN JET ENERGY WILL STAY WELL TO OUR NORTH...RESULTING
IN THE FORECAST AREA STAYING DRY THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THERE MAY BE
SOME OROGRAPHIC SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE WEST FACING SLOPES OF OUR
SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS DUE TO A WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. IN ADDITION...SOME
WEAK RIDGING TAKES PLACE RESULTING IN SLOWLY INCREASING HEIGHTS AND
THICKNESS VALUES...AS WELL AS WARMING TEMPERATURES AT 700MB AND 850MB.
ALTHOUGH SKIES LOOK TO BE MOSTLY CLOUDY THROUGH THE WEEKEND...
TEMPERATURES WILL WARM A FEW DEGREES EACH DAY WITH MOST AREAS REACHING
THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 50S.
MONDAY & TUESDAY...LAST NIGHTS GFS SHOWED A TROUGH MOVING INTO THE
AREA BY MONDAY NIGHT. HOWEVER...LATEST GFS RUN IS ABOUT 24 HOURS FASTER
WITH THIS TROUGH. IN ANY CASE...CONDITIONS LOOK A BIT UNSETTLED TO
BEGIN THE NEW WEEK AS THIS WILL BE OUR NEXT CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION.
TEMPERATURES LOOK TO TURN COLDER AGAIN BUT NOT DEVIATE TOO MUCH FROM
NORMAL. AT THIS POINT IN TIME...WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO DAYS 5
THROUGH 7 AND LEAVE CURRENT GRIDS AS IS.  HOOLEY

    TDY THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 045 026/052 029/051 030/052 034/054 028/048 026/045
    4/S 00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
LVM 047 026/050 027/049 029/051 033/052 027/045 025/045
    2/S 00/E    20/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
HDN 045 025/049 026/050 027/053 032/055 026/049 024/046
    6/S 00/B    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
MLS 043 023/049 025/048 024/047 029/050 024/048 024/045
    7/S 00/U    00/B    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
4BQ 041 023/047 023/046 024/049 030/051 027/047 025/046
    7/S 00/B    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
BHK 038 022/046 023/046 022/046 027/048 024/044 019/043
    7/S 00/U    00/U    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E
SHR 037 021/045 024/049 027/051 031/049 027/043 024/040
    7/S 20/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E    00/E

.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 19, 5:02 AM MST, 1 hour 58 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-201200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
502 AM MST WED MAR 19 2003

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

.DAY ONE...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
SOME SNOW WILL CONTINUE MAINLY OVER THE EAST HALF OF THE AREA
THROUGH THIS MORNING...BUT NO SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS ARE ANTICIPATED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
A GRADUAL WARMING OF TEMPERATURES MAY CAUSE STREAMS AND RIVERS TO
RISE...POSSIBLY OVERFLOWING THEIR BANKS...BUT NO WATCHES ARE IN
EFFECT 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: March 19, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Sheridan Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

21 inches of 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

More

Every storm in Wyoming in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Wyoming, 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: 5346049.