Heavy Snow in Wyoming, May 10, 2003

Name: Heavy Snow in Wyoming, May 10, 2003
Start: 2003-05-10T07:00
End: 2003-05-10T07:00
Location: Wyoming

May 10, 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 May 10, 3:15 AM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 10, 3:15 AM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED CCF
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
415 AM MDT SAT MAY 10 2003

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

WILL LET HIGHLIGHTS REMAIN IN PLACE UNTIL NOON TODAY. BROAD AREA OF
STEADY LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN/SNOW FALLING ACROSS MOST OF THE CENTRAL
ZONES THIS MORNING. UPPER LEVEL DIFFLUENCE AND LOW LEVEL
UPSLOPE/ISENTROPIC FORCING ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS. BOTH MODELS
HANDLING THIS SCENARIO REMARKABLY WELL...BUT PREFER THE GFS AS IT LINES
UP THE BEST WITH CURRENT PRECIPITATION PATTERN. MODELS INDICATE A SLOW
SHIFTING OF UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE TO THE SOUTH AND EAST THIS AFTERNOON
AS UPPER LOW OVER SOUTHERN UTAH TRANSITIONS INTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS
PULLING DYNAMICS THAT DIRECTION. IN ADDITION WEAK RIDGING MOVES INTO THE
NORTHERN AND WESTERN PORTION OF THE STATE AHEAD OF SHORTWAVE TROF OVER
PACIFIC NORTHWEST PUSHING DRIER LOW LEVEL AIR IN FROM THE NORTH. THE
RESULT OF THESE SHIFTS IS THAT PRECIPITATION WILL TAPPER OFF FROM NORTH
TO SOUTH TODAY. FOR THIS MORNING WILL GO WITH CATEGORICAL POPS
CENTRAL...LIKELY ACROSS THE WEST AND CHANCE IN THE EAST...WILL SEE
AROUND 4 OR 5 INCHES OF SNOW ABOVE 6000 FEET THIS MORNING. BY LATE THIS
AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE WITH LIKELY POPS IN SHERIDAN COUNTY AND REMOVE
POPS ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES. WILL NOT STRAY FAR FROM YESTERDAYS HIGHS
AS CLOUD COVER WILL BE CONSIDERABLE UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON...AND WITH THE
WET GROUND WILL NOT SEE MUCH WARMING EVEN IF A BIT OF SUNSHINE IS
REALIZED THIS AFTERNOON DUE TO LOW LEVEL EVAPORATION. WILL END ALL POPS
BY LATE THIS EVENING. SKIES SHOULD BECOME PARTLY CLOUDY ACROSS THE AREA
TONIGHT ALLOWING TEMPERATURES TO FALL BELOW FREEZING ACROSS THE WESTERN
HALF OF THE CWA AND ALONG EASTERN RIVER VALLEYS.

FOR SUNDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS IN THE MORNING WILL GIVE WAY TO
SHOWERS AND AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS IN THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE
CWA. AREAS WHERE CONSIDERABLE PRECIPITATION HAS FALLEN OVER THE PAST FEW
DAYS WILL TAKE LITTLE IN THE WAY OF SUNSHINE TO PRODUCE SHOWER ACTIVITY.
BY LATE AFTERNOON A NEGATIVELY TILTED 700MB TROF MOVES INTO THE
SOUTHWEST ZONES TO PROVIDE ENOUGH EXTRA LIFT FOR ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
TO DEVELOP. TEMPERATURES SHOULD REBOUND INTO THE UPPER 50S DESPITE
INCREASING AFTERNOON CLOUD COVER. CHAMBERS

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...

GFS WAS FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH ITS PREVIOUS RUN AND AGREED WITH
CANADIAN MODEL AND UKMET IN BRINGING UPPER SHORTWAVE TROUGH INTO REGION
SUN NIGHT THROUGH MON NIGHT. ETA WAS SIMILAR TO ECMWF WITH A
ZONAL/RIDGING PATTERN EARLY IN EXTENDED PERIOD. GFS/CANADIAN REFLECTED
GOING FORECAST FAIRLY WELL SO FOLLOWED THEM FOR THIS PACKAGE.
ADDED CHANCE SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS TO W AREAS SUN EVE DUE TO APPROACHING
TROUGH. SOME UNCERTAINTY ABOUT TIMING OF SYSTEM AS LATEST GFS POSITION
OF SURFACE LOW DIFFERED FROM PREVIOUS RUN SO LEFT E DRY SUN NIGHT AND
MON. KEPT TUE THROUGH THU DRY AS SYSTEM MOVES E OF REGION AND UPPER
RIDGING MOVES OVER AREA. RAISED TEMPS THU/THU NIGHT WITH THERMAL RIDGE
OVER AREA. GFS BROUGHT SHORTWAVE NE TOWARD AREA ON FRI AND HAD
ASSOCIATED SURFACE SYSTEM OVER WY. WENT WITH 30 POPS ENTIRE AREA.
THERMAL RIDGE AND SW FLOW WILL CONTINUE OVER REGION ON FRI SO RAISED
TEMPS SEVERAL DEGREES. ARTHUR

    TDY SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 049 032/056 035/061 042/065 042/067 040/068 044/070
    +/R 03/T    22/T    20/E    00/B    00/B    03/T
LVM 048 028/055 031/062 036/060 036/065 033/066 038/065
    6/R 03/T    33/T    30/E    00/B    03/T    33/T
HDN 048 032/056 034/060 041/066 041/068 042/069 043/071
    +/R 02/T    00/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    03/T
MLS 049 034/057 036/062 041/067 041/069 044/070 045/072
    6/R 02/T    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    03/T
4BQ 047 034/057 035/058 040/062 040/064 044/065 045/067
    +/R 32/T    00/E    00/E    00/B    00/B    03/T
BHK 048 033/058 033/059 040/063 040/065 045/066 045/068
    3/R 00/B    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    03/T
SHR 046 031/056 033/057 041/062 041/064 041/065 042/067
    +/R 42/T    00/E    00/B    00/B    00/B    03/T

.BYZ...
MT...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THIS MORNING FOR ZONES MTZ034...MTZ038...
.MTZ041...MTZ056.
.WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW THIS MORNING FOR ZONES MTZ034...
.MTZ038...MTZ056.

WY...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THIS MORNING FOR ZONE WYZ098.

Hazardous weather outlook, May 10, 4:06 AM MST, 2 hours 54 minutes before

MTZ028>042-056>058-WYZ098-099-111100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
506 AM MDT SAT MAY 10 2003

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

.DAY ONE...

A BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROF WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA TODAY...PRODUCING
RAIN AND SNOW ACROSS THE AREA. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL WILL ACCUMULATE
ABOVE 5000 FEET TODAY ACROSS SOUTHERN MONTANA AND NORTHERN WYOMING.
AS A RESULT SEVERAL HEAVY SNOW WARNINGS AND WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT. FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON WINTER
WEATHER WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES REFER TO THE LATEST GTFWSWBYZ.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT SNOW
ACCUMULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

WCJIN-WYNW-WYNE

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Northeast Bighorn Mountains

When: May 10, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Northeast Bighorn Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

14 inches of snow at Burgess Junction

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, 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: 5350703.