1 heavy rain, 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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 30, 4:50 PM CST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 550 PM CDT SAT AUG 30 2003 .UPDATE... WENT AHEAD AND ADJUSTED THE WX GRIDS DOWN TO SCATTERED TERMINOLOGY THROUGH MIDNIGHT...THEN TRANSITIONED TO WHAT THE PREVIOUS SHIFT HAD FOR THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. LATEST RADAR TRENDS SHOW MOST OF THE CONVECTION WAS OVER WESTERN KENTUCKY LATE THIS AFTERNOON...WITH FEW ECHOS ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS INTO SOUTHWEST INDIANA. THUS THE ADJUSTMENT DOWN IN POPS FOR THE FIRST HALF OF TONIGHT. NO OTHER CHANGES WERE MADE. .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... MAIN CONCERN FOR THIS FORECAST CONTINUES TO BE PRECIPITATION CHANCES AND POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL OVER THE REST OF THE LONG WEEKEND. FIRST LET ME SAY THAT NONE OF THE MODELS SEEM TO HAVE A DECENT HANDLE ON QPF WITH THIS SYSTEM...ESPECIALLY THE GFS. UPPER RIDGE AND SURFACE HIGH OVER THE SE US HOLDING SAID SYSTEM AT BAY. ALL MODELS AGREE THAT SURFACE BOUNDARY AND 850MB TROF CURRENTLY NEAR THE KY/TN BORDER WILL LIFT SLOWLY NORTH TONIGHT IN RESPONSE TO INTENSIFICATION OF LOW OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. ETA/MESOETA CLEARLY SHOW BEST ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE ON I310 SURFACE TONIGHT ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. WILL GO WITH A FLOOD WATCH OVER THE SOUTHWEST QUADRANT OF OUR CWA WHERE WE HAVE GENERALLY HAD THREE TO FIVE INCHES OF RAIN OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS. ALTHOUGH MODEL QPFS WOULD NOT INDICATE ENOUGH ADDITIONAL QPF TO CAUSE FLASH FLOODING (NEW 6HR FFG = 2.5 TO 3 INCHES OVER WETTEST COUNTIES)...BUT WILL GO WITH THE FLOOD WATCH JUST IN CASE A STORM DROPS HEAVY RAIN OVER ONE OR MORE OF THEM. WITH SURFACE BOUNDARY REMAINING E-W ACROSS THE CWA COMBINED WITH ABUNDANT MOISTURE AND INTENSIFICATION OF APPROACHING SYSTEM...EXPECT HIGH POPS EVERYWHERE...ESPECIALLY THE NORTHERN HALF...SO WILL KEEP LIKELY OR BETTER POPS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. SUNDAY NIGHT AS THE SURFACE AND UPPER SYSTEM GET BETTER ORGANIZED AND BEGIN TO MAKE EASTWARD PROGRESS...THE BEST FORCING WILL BE NORTH AND FAR WEST...SO WILL GO LIKELY POPS NRN HALF/CHC POPS SRN HALF. MONDAY AS THE SYSTEM BEGINS ITS NORTHEASTWARD TREK...WILL GO LIKELY POPS EVERYWHERE EXCEPT THE SE CORNER WHERE WILL GO CHC POPS. LIKE THE GFS ORIENTATION AND TRACKING OF THIS SYSTEM BEST. WILL KEEP HIGH POPS AS THE MAIN SYSTEM MAKES ITS WAY ACROSS THE CWA STARTING MONDAY NIGHT INTO MIDDAY WEDNESDAY. DUE TO THE UNCERTAINTY OF QPF AMOUNTS AND THE EXACT TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM...WILL NOT ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH BEYOND THE FIRST PERIOD AT THIS TIME. A WELCOMED COOLER AND DRIER AIRMASS IN THE WAKE OF THIS SYSTEM WILL KEEP THE REGION DRY WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. MAV/FWC TEMPERATURES SIMILAR SO WENT WITH A BLEND. .PAH...FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT SOUTH OF A LINE FROM MARBLE HILL MISSOURI TO VIENNA ILLINOIS AND WEST OF A LINE FROM VIENNA ILLINOIS TO DEXTER MISSOURI. JAP/CN
ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-311000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 500 AM CDT SAT AUG 30 2003 ...WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE OVER THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA AND WESTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE QUAD STATE TODAY AND TONIGHT. A LARGE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO SLOWLY PUSH EASTWARD ACROSS THE QUAD STATE THIS MORNING...AND COME TO AN END FROM WEST TO EAST THIS AFTERNOON. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF AN INCH OR MORE WILL BE POSSIBLE...MAINLY ACROSS WESTERN KENTUCKY. WIDESPREAD FLOODING PROBLEMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. ANOTHER AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE QUAD STATE AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. THIS AREA OF STORMS IS EXPECTED TO LIFT SLOWLY NORTHWARD ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. THIS ROUND OF STORMS MAY ALSO RESULT IN UP TO AN INCH OF RAINFALL ACROSS MUCH OF THE QUAD STATE. THE HEAVIEST RAINS OVERNIGHT WILL LIKELY FALL TO THE NORTH OF THE EARLIER HEAVY RAINS...SO WIDESPREAD FLOODING PROBLEMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A FEW MORE ROUNDS OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE QUAD STATE FROM SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. MARGINAL INSTABILITY AND RELATIVELY STRONG WIND FIELDS MAY SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FEW ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT THE PRIMARY THREAT THROUGH THE PERIOD WILL CONTINUE TO BE WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINS. WITH EACH SUCCESSIVE ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAVY RAINFALL...FLOODING PROBLEMS WILL BECOME MORE LIKELY...AS THE GROUND BECOMES OVERLY SATURATED. EXTREME RAINFALL RATES AND FLASH FLOODING ARE NOT EXPECTED DUE TO ONLY MARGINAL INSTABILITY IN THE REGION...BUT PERSISTENT RAINFALL OVER SATURATED GROUNDS MAY LEAD TO MORE OF A GENERAL HIGH WATER THREAT THROUGH THE LATER HALF OF THE WEEKEND. A FLOOD WATCH MAY NEED TO BE ISSUED...IF AND WHEN...FORECAST CONFIDENCE IN THE TIMING AND LOCATION OF THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL INCREASES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. IN ADDITION...ANY REPORTS OF HEAVY RAINFALL OR FLOODING PROBLEMS THROUGHOUT THE QUAD STATE OVER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. DRS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
A nearly stationary thunderstorm over Metropolis caused flooding of several streets, including North Avenue. A truck hydroplaned on Illinois 145 and flipped over into a ditch.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, August 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: 5378275.