5 hail, 1 tornado, 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 Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 19, 1:20 PM CST, 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 120 PM CST WED MAR 19 2003 MAIN CONCERN THIS FCST PERIOD WILL BE TIMING OF PCPN ALONG WITH TEMPS AS SLOW MOVING UPPER TROF LIFTS NE ACROSS AREA THROUGH FRIDAY. MAJORITY OF PCPN CONTINUES TO LIFT NORTH EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AS VIGOROUS MID LEVEL S/W AND ASSOCIATED SFC WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTH. SUBSIDENCE BEHIND S/W RESULTING IN RAPID CLEARING OF SKIES SOUTH OF I-70. CLEARING IS RESULTING IN INCREASED INSTABILITY IN THE WARM SECTOR. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR CONTINUED THUNDERSTORM REDEVELOPMENT AS AIRMASS RECOVERS COMBINED WITH SHEAR ALONG WARM FRONT. WILL MAINTAIN CHC POP...ESPECIALLY FOR THIS EVENING IN PERIOD OF GREATEST INSTABILITY. WARM AIRMASS TO REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE AREA INTO THURS AS UPPER LOW LIFTS INTO AREA. THIS WILL RESULT IN INCREASED INSTABIITY AND STEEPENING LAPSE RATES BY AFTERNOON FOR ANOTHER CHANCE FOR STORMS. LIKELY POPS STILL LOOK OK. THIS SYSTEM FINALLY LIFTS NE OF THE AREA DURING DAY ON FRI AND ASSOCIATED PCPN CHCS SHOULD DECREASE. DRY CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ON SATURDAY AND BACK TO NEAR NORMAL TEMPS. DAYS 4 THROUGH 7... GFS AND NCEP ENSEMBLES IN OVERALL AGREEMENT WITH DRY FCST FOR SAT THRU MON WITH A GRADUAL WARMING TREND AS FLOW BECOMES MORE ZONAL. AFTER A BRIEF PERIOD OF NEAR NORMAL TEMPS INTO THE EARLY PART OF WEEKEND...WARM AIR ADVECTION SHOULD PUSH TEMPS WELL INTO 60S AGAIN FOR SUN/MON. TROF DEVELOPS ACROSS ROCKIES BY TUES APPROACHING MIDWEST WEDNESDAY WITH INCREASED PCPN CHCS FOR TUES AND WED. .ILX...NONE FRIEDERS
ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-201200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1101 AM CST WED MAR 19 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. THE POTENTIAL FOR THE MOST ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE ON THURSDAY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. A LARGE STORM SYSTEM...CURRENTLY OVER OKLAHOMA...WILL TRACK NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE MIDWEST. AS THE SYSTEM MOVES SLOWLY ACROSS THE REGION...EXPECT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGIC AND CLIMATE INFORMATION...IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/ILX (ALL IN LOWER CASE) GOETSCH
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:22 UTC.
5 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado briefly touched down in a field one mile south of Pawnee. No damage or injuries were reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2003Warnings in Illinois, March 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: 5346495, 5346499, 5346500, 5346496, 5346497, 5346498.