Flood, Central and Southern Valley
- When
- April 1, 12:00 AM MST to April 2, 12:00 PM MST
- Where
- Central and Southern Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 48.365, -106.667 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flooding in Montana, April 1 to 2, 2004
Small stream flooding from snowmelt that began in late March lingered into early April. Several low water crossings on Rock Creek and Porcupine Creek in Valley County and the Poplar River in Roosevelt County were impassible due to high water.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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 happened
The episode as NWS GGW wrote it up.
Small stream flooding from snowmelt that began in late March lingered into early April. Several low water crossings on Rock Creek and Porcupine Creek in Valley County and the Poplar River in Roosevelt County were impassible due to high water.
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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 31, 8:23 PM MST, 3 hours 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 31, 8:23 PM MST, 3 hours 37 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 823 PM WED MAR 31 2004 .SHORT TERM FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA TONIGHT... FORECAST ON TRACK...NO UPDATES PLANNED. SLOWLY PROGRESSIVE AND HIGHLY AMPLIFIED FLOW REMAINS ACROSS WESTERN NORTH AMERICA...WITH RIDGE NOW DISPLACED EAST OF REGION OVER EASTERN DAKOTA. PHASING LONG WAVE TROUGH APPROACHING WEST COAST...SHOWING INCREASING LINKAGE TO STRONG CLOSED LOW WEST OF BAJA CALIFORNIA. AT SURFACE...COOL FRONT HAS PROGRESSED ACROSS ALL BUT SOUTHEAST CORNER OF CWA...AND EXPECTED TO EXIT ENTIRE CWA BY MIDNIGHT. AS EXPECTED...COOLER TEMPERATURES ON NORTH WINDS SPREADING SOUTH ACROSS CWA. SATELLITE IMAGERY...ESPECIALLY WATER VAPOR LOOP...SUGGESTS THAT PHASING WEST COAST TROUGH MAY BE A TAD SLOWER THAN EARLIER MODEL RUNS DISPLAYED...WITH POSSIBLE SLOWING OF OVERALL PATTERN. A SLOWER PROGRESSION MORE LIKELY TO DELAY COOLING AS WELL AS ONSET OF PRECIPITATION. FOR NOW...PATTERN IS EVOLVING CLOSE TO EXPECTATIONS ...SO WILL LEAVE FINE TUNING OF FORECAST FOR LATER SHIFTS TO EVALUATE WHEN ALL OF MODEL OUTPUTS ARE AVAILABLE. ASIDE FROM REFRESHING SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY...HYDRO SITUATION REMAINS UNCHANGED. EXPECT THAT COOLING TEMPERATURES BEGINNING TONIGHT AND CONTINUING REMAINDER OF WEEK WILL GRADUALLY SHUT OFF ADDITIONAL SNOW MELT...BUT WILL AGAIN DEFER TO LATER SHIFTS FINAL DISPOSITION OF CURRENT ADVISORY. DNS .LONG TERM...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY... STILL LITTLE CHANGE IN THE FORECAST FOR THIS PACKAGE. GFS NOW TRENDING TOWARD THE SLOWER ECMWF. UPPER TROF LATE THIS WEEK BECOMES A CUTOFF LOW OVER THE SOUTHWEST FOR THE BETTER PART OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. THIS LOW SHOULD BE SLOW TO MOVE OUT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST WITH THE NORTHERN STREAM MORE OR LESS STREAMING EAST ACROSS CANADA FAR ENOUGH NORTH TO HAVE MINIMAL EFFECTS FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA. WEEKEND TO BE COOL IN THE WAKE OF THE TROF PASSAGE LATE IN THE WEEK WHILE TEMPERATURES SLOWLY RECOVER. EARLY NEXT WEEK TEMPERATURES SHOULD START CLIMBING AS CUTOFF LOW SINKS A BIT FARTHER SOUTH AND FLOW BECOMES MORE ZONAL ACROSS MONTANA WITH UPPER HEIGHTS/THICKNESSES GRADUALLY INCREASING. SEE NO REASON AT THIS POINT FOR ANY POPS SATURDAY THRU TUESDAY...SO WILL LEAVE THE FORECAST DRY. EBERT && WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... A SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF PHILLIPS...VALLEY...WESTERN ROOSEVELT AND DANIELS COUNTIES THROUGH 4PM THURSDAY. &&
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 31, 6:00 AM MST, 18 hours before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT 600 AM MST WED MAR 31 2004 MTZ016>027-059>062-011300- CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PHILLIPS-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN VALLEY-DANIELS- DAWSON-EASTERN ROOSEVELT-GARFIELD-MCCONE-NORTHERN PHILLIPS- NORTHERN VALLEY-PETROLEUM-PRAIRIE-RICHLAND-SHERIDAN- SOUTHWEST PHILLIPS-WESTERN ROOSEVELT-WIBAUX- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CIRCLE...CULBERTSON...GLASGOW...GLENDIVE... JORDAN...MALTA...OPHEIM...PLENTYWOOD...SCOBEY...SIDNEY...TERRY... WHITEWATER...WIBAUX...WINNETT...WOLF POINT AND ZORTMAN 600 AM MST WED MAR 31 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST MONTANA .DAY ONE... A SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR PHILLIPS... VALLEY...DANIELS...AND ROOSEVELT COUNTIES UNTIL 400 PM MST. PLEASE REFER TO GTFFLSGGW OR WGUS85 KGGW FOR FURTHER 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.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flood, Northern Valley
- When
- April 1, 12:00 AM MST to April 2, 12:00 PM MST
- Where
- Northern Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 48.365, -106.667 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood, Western Roosevelt
- When
- April 1, 12:00 AM MST to April 2, 12:00 PM MST
- Where
- Western Roosevelt forecast zone
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 48.295, -105.016 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Flood
- Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Dense Fog in California, April 1, 2004
- Lightning Strike in Pennsylvania, April 1, 2004
- Drought in Colorado, April 1 to 30, 2004
- Flooding in Massachusetts, April 1 to 4, 2004
- Drought in Utah, April 1 to 30, 2004
- Flooding in Vermont, April 1 to 3, 2004
- Flooding in Wisconsin, April 1 to 5, 2004
- Flooding in New Hampshire, April 1 to 3, 2004
- Flooding in New Hampshire, April 1 to 4, 2004
- Wildfire in Arizona, April 1 to 2, 2004
- Flood in Minnesota, April 1 to 12, 2004
- Flood in Minnesota, April 1, 2004
More
Every storm in Montana in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, April 2004
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: 5389916, 5389917, 5389918.