Hail — Ravalli, Montana

2002-08-04 · near Stevensville, Ravalli, Montana

Wider weather episode

Supercell thunderstorm formed over the Bitterroot Valley near Hamilton and moved north through the valley, impacting the communities of Stevensville to Florence. Extensive damage to property and crops was caused by large hail up to golf ball size, and strong winds in the Stevensville area. Hail drifts up to 3 feet deep were reported along with flooding of one road from heavy rain with 3 inches in 30 minutes. State snowplows had to be called out to clear several miles of Highway 93 from Stevensville turnoff north towards Florence. Houses, garages, and farm outbuildings were damaged by falling trees, flying debris, hail and wind. The hail stripped trees bare, smashed windows, dented cars, bruised and cut horses as well as blew fruit off trees. Farmers reported bails of hay rolling 100 yards from the strong winds, with tons of unbailed hay blown away and lost. The storm weakened as it approached the Missoula Valley, but still caused large tree limbs to be broken off near the Linda Vista Golf Course, along with hail covering and damaging many yards in drifts of several inches deep.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.5000, -114.0833)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5313834. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.