3 hail, 1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 23, 8:31 PM CST, 5 hours 29 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 931 PM CDT WED APR 23 2003 KNQA RADAR OTS AWAITING PARTS UNTIL LATE TOMORROW MORNING. PRECIP APPROACHING LIT AT THIS TIME...SO UPDATED GRIDS TO PLAY UP CHANCE OF THUNDER A LITTLE MORE OVERNIGHT...AND ZFP TO FRESHEN WORDING. NO MAJOR CHANGES TO SCENARIO AT THIS POINT. WILL CHECK OUT NEW MODEL RUNS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE. .MEG...NONE. WAGNER
ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115-MSZ001>017- 020>024-TNZ001>004-019>021-048>055-088>092-241100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 500 AM CDT WED APR 23 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST ARKANSAS...NORTH MISSISSIPPI...WEST TENNESSEE AND THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. SOME STORMS MAY BE SEVERE FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MEG. SWC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A house was destroyed by a fire started by lightning.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, 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: 5350104, 5350101, 5350102, 5350103.