1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 30, 2:24 PM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 324 PM CDT WED APR 30 2003 LOTS OF LITTLE THINGS AND A COUPLE OF BIG THINGS PROGGED BY MODELS TO AFFECT ALABAMA NEXT 7 DAYS. WELL TAKE THINGS PERIOD BY PERIOD. TONIGHT...CURRENTLY WATCHING STORM DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH GA...AND THE SEABREEZE CONVECTION JUST INLAND FROM THE COAST. HAVE ALSO BEEN WATCHING MCV CHUGGING EAST ALONG THE AR/LA BORDER...WAITING FOR SOMETHING MORE SIGNIFICANT TO DEVELOP THERE. SO FAR...NOTHING WITHIN THE COUNTY WARNING AREA. THE STUFF IN GA SEEMS TO BE TIED TO THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...AND AN UPSLOPE KIND OF THING. SO...DOT THINK THAT WILL BE AN ISSUE FOR US TONIGHT. SEABREEZE ACTIVITY NOT MAKING MUCH HEADWAY NORTH...AND EXPECT THAT TO DIE OUT AROUND SUNSET. MCV RELATED STUFF NEEDS TO BE WATCHED A BIT MORE. 18Z ETA AND LATEST RUC BOTH HAVE THAT FEATURE COMING INTO ALABAMA LATER TONIGHT...WHICH MAKES ME A LITTLE UNEASY. HAVE TENTATIVELY PENCILED IN 20% POPS TONIGHT TO ACCOUNT FOR MVC RELATED SHOWERS/STORMS...ALTHOUGH I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO TWEAK POPS AT LAST MINUTE. THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...BACK INTO THE LOW FORCING ENVIRONMENT...WITH AFTERNOON DEVELOPMENT BASED ON MESOSCALE FACTORS. WILL GO AHEAD AND KEEP 20% POPS IN THE FORECAST. FRIDAY...LOOKED LONG AND HARD AT SEVERAL THINGS FOR FRIDAY. FIRST... NOTED THE SPC DAY 3 OUTLOOK OF SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE ACROSS THE STATE. BEST UPPER LEVEL FORCING IS WELL NORTH OF THE AREA...SO ANY DEVELOPMENT WILL HAVE TO BE DRIVEN BY THE LOWER LEVELS...MEANING FORCING ALONG THE FRONT AND INSTABILITY. WIND SHEAR APPEARS TO BE MORE OF THE SPEED VARIETY...RATHER THAN DIRECTIONAL. SO...IF SEVERE STORMS DO MOVE IN AFTER FORMING TO OUR WEST/NORTHWEST...THEN IT WOULD MOST LIKELY COME IN THE FORM OF A LINE OR LINES. A DERECHO PERHAPS? WELL HAVE TO WATCH AND WAIT. FRIDAY NIGHT...IM KEEPING A CHANCE OF STORMS IN THE EVENING IN THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...TWEENER DAYS...POST FRONTAL AND SHOULD BE RAIN FREE HERE. LOOKS LIKE AN ACTIVE DAY TO OUR WEST...WHICH BRINGS US TO... MONDAY AND TUESDAY...EXPECTING MORE SEVERE STORMS TO DEVELOP WEST OF THE MS RIVER ON SUNDAY. THESE COULD REACH ALABAMA AS EARLY AS EARLY MONDAY MORNING (WHICH IS A CLIMATOLOGICALLY UNFAVORABLE TIME FOR STORMS). USING THE MODELS ARE USUALLY TOO FAST RULE...STORMS MAY NOT GET INTO ALABAMA UNTIL LATER IN THE DAY MONDAY (A CLIMATOLOGICALLY MORE FAVORABLE TIME OF DAY). WILL ALSO NEED TO WATCH LATER DEVELOPMENTS WITH THIS SYSTEM...AND AT THIS TIME WILL INCLUDE CHANCE OF STORMS MONDAY AS WELL AS TUESDAY. WEDNESDAY...ANOTHER POST FRONTAL DAY...WITH NO RAIN EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. BHM 061/084/061/085 0214 MGM 061/086/061/086 0214 .BHM...NONE.
ALZ011>015-017>050-302030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 155 PM CDT WED APR 30 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE (THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT)... AN ALMOST SUMMER-LIKE PATTERN...WITH AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING INSTABILITY...WILL BRING THE THREAT OF ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. MOST FACTORS POINT TOWARDS STORMS STAYING BELOW SEVERE LIMITS...HOWEVER...THE POSSIBILITY OF SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS WILL EXIST WITH ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP. THE SUCARNOOCHEE RIVER HAS DROPPED BELOW FLOOD STAGE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY)... DIURNAL INSTABILITY IS EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY AGAIN THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY EVENING...WITH ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. A STRONGER UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL PASS ACROSS THE AREA FRIDAY...RESULTING IN A RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. FINALLY...AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS WILL BRING A THREAT FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EARLY MONDAY...WITH A POSSIBILITY THAT SOME STORMS COULD BE SEVERE. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONDITIONS. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL LIKELY NOT BE REQUIRED THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING.
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:04 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees and power lines were blown down from the city of Gadsden to the Coates Bend area. A few traffic lights were also blown down. At least 500 customers were temporarily without power.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, April 2003
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: 5353689.