1 flash flood, 1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Jun 30, 1:41 PM MST, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
241 PM MDT WED JUN 30 2004
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR THU AND FRI...
BOTH MODELS INITIALIZED WELL TODAY. WILL LEAN TOWARD THE ETA SOLUTION
AS GFS SHOWING CONVECTIVE FEED BACK PROBLEMS.
TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER
THE FORECAST AREA ALONG WITH A VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE SOUTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT. SEVERAL WEAK DISTURBANCES WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THIS FLOW
BRINGING AREAS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. STORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL
OF PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN AS PRECIPITABLE WATER IS OVER 1 INCH
CENTRAL AN EASTERN ZONES. STORM MOVEMENT WILL BE VERY SLOW AS WINDS
ALOFT ARE LIGHT. A STRONGER SHORT WAVE AND SURFACE TROUGH WILL MOVE
THROUGH THE AREA THURSDAY AFTERNOON WHERE THE POTENTIAL OF STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS WILL EXIST OVER THE EASTERN ZONES. LIS WILL APPROACHING
-5 AS CAPES CLIMB TO 1500 J/KG. LAPSE RATES ALSO VERY UNSTABLE WITH 7
C/KM PROGGED. MAIN THREAT FROM STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE VERY HEAVY
RAIN AS PWS OVER THE EAST RISE TO AROUND 1.5 INCHES. WAVE WILL EXIT THE
FORECAST AREA THURSDAY NIGHT WITH PRECIPITATION ENDING FROM WEST TO
EAST. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN WARM ON THURSDAY AS GOOD MIXING TO TAKE
PLACE AHEAD OF WEAK FRONT.
FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT...FLOW ALOFT BECOMES ZONAL WITH A WEAK SHORT
WAVE MOVING THROUGH. UPPER AND LOWER LEVEL MOISTURE DIMINISHING BUT
ENOUGH INSTABILITY AROUND FOR ISOLATED SHOWERS. THERMAL RIDGE TO PUSH
BACK INTO THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE DAY FOR CONTINUED ABOVE NORMAL
TEMPERATURES. DRY ZONAL FLOW OVER THE AREA FRIDAY NIGHT. RICHMOND
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...WED...
WILL KEEP THE EXTENDED FORECAST UNSETTLED. WEAK RIDGE IN PLACE FOR
SATURDAY. GFS TAKES SHORTWAVE ENERGY AND SLIDES IT OVER THE RIDGE.
ATMOSPHERE TO BE PRETTY UNSTABLE UNDERNEATH THE RIDGE IN WARM AIR AND
THE GFS DEVELOPS A TYPICAL CONVECTIVE SIGNATURE BY STRENGTHENING A
SHORTWAVE DURING THE AFTERNOON. PUSHED POPS A LITTLE FARTHER EAST DURING
THE DAY SATURDAY AND BRUSHED THEM INTO THE EAST SATURDAY NIGHT. A DEEP
SHORTWAVE CARVES OUT A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT UPPER TROUGH OVER BRITISH
COLUMBIA EARLY SUNDAY. THIS TROUGH WORKS SOUTHEAST AND SPREADS UPPER
DIVERGENCE INTO THE FORECAST AREA SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. RAISED
POPS A LITTLE OVER THE WEST AS LOOKS LIKE A BETTER THAN SLIGHT CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS IN THIS PATTERN.
DIFFERENCES EXIST IN THE MODELS FROM SUNDAY NIGHT ON. THE GFS WAS MUCH
DEEPER WITH THE TROUGH AND DIGS IT FARTHER SOUTH INTO IDAHO. THE ECMWF
KEEPS THE SYSTEM AS AN OPEN WAVE AND SWINGS IT OUT OF THE STATE MONDAY
NIGHT. WILL KEEP THE POPS GOING MONDAY AND MONDAY EVENING. DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THE MODELS BECOMES SIGNIFICANT FOR TUESDAY AS THE GFS KEEPS A
CLOSED LOW OVER THE AREA WHILE THE ECMWF ACTUALLY PUSHES A RIDGE ACROSS
MONTANA. THESE DIFFERENCES CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY. WILL LEAVE THE
FORECAST ALONE WITH SUCH LARGE MODEL DISCREPANCIES...BUT MAY NEED TO DRY
THINGS OUT TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY IF THE ECMWF HAS THE RIGHT IDEA. DID
COOL THINGS DOWN A TOUCH SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY WITH AN UPPER LOW
SWINGING THROUGH. HUMPHREY
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS...
THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 061/087 062/086 057/086 058/084 056/081 055/082 056/082
53/T 23/T 32/T 23/T 33/T 33/T 32/T
LVM 051/086 052/085 049/084 051/082 049/079 048/079 049/078
43/T 33/T 32/T 03/T 33/T 32/T 32/T
HDN 061/086 062/087 057/085 058/086 055/083 054/081 055/086
63/T 23/T 32/T 22/T 22/T 33/T 32/T
MLS 063/085 063/088 058/085 059/085 060/082 059/084 060/085
64/T 22/T 20/B 22/T 22/T 23/T 32/T
4BQ 061/085 061/087 057/085 058/083 055/081 054/082 055/086
64/T 33/T 30/B 22/T 22/T 23/T 32/T
BHK 059/084 060/086 058/084 057/082 056/079 053/081 054/084
44/T 42/T 20/B 22/T 22/T 23/T 32/T
SHR 059/085 056/084 052/084 054/083 052/081 051/082 052/084
63/T 23/T 32/T 22/T 22/T 33/T 32/T
&&
.BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.
&&The Billings radar (KBLX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:00 UTC.
1 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash flooding was observed on Otter Creek between 5 pm and 7pm with some damage to fences and bridges. Some flooding was also observed on Sweet Grass Creek.
Streets and main underpass were flooded in Miles City due to a stationary thunderstorm with very heavy rain. Flooding started around 530 pm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Montana in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Montana, June 2004
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: 5408483, 5408484.