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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 2:30 PM EST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 230 PM EST SUN AUG 31 2003 LOW PRES CENTERED OVR ERN KS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH WARM FRONT ACROSS CENTRAL MO...SOUTH CENTRAL IL TO SWRN INDIANA. RADAR SHOWING THE PCPN MAINLY AHEAD OF THE WARM FRONT...AND TAPERING OFF ACRS SW IN. HOWEVER WARM SECTOR TSRA DEVELOPING ACRS KY. MAIN FCST CHALLENGE WL BE WHEN TO END THE RAIN. A WET PERIOD IS IN STORE OF FOR THE FA THROUGH TUESDAY. ETA/GFS FINALLY AGREE ON BRINGING WARM FRONT UP ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA TONIGHT AND SETTLING IT THERE FOR MONDAY. THIS LOOKS ALREADY UNDER WAY AS THE FRONT HAS SHOWN SIGNS OF CREEPING NWARD THIS AM. PLENTY OF MOISTURE AVAILABLE WITH THE SYSTEM AS MIXING RATIOS LINGER NR 10 G/KG ON THE 305 ETA ISENTROPIC SFC. ISENTROPIC LIFT WL ALSO OCCUR TONIGHT AND MONDAY ALTHOUGH THE BEST SET UP FOR THIS IS TONIGHT WITH LESSENING EFFECTS ON MONDAY. STILL TIME SECTIONS SHOW VRY MOIST AIRMAS AND PLENTY OF VV THROUGH MONDAY. NOT TO MENTION H5 S/W WORKING ACRS THE AREA. FURTHERMORE...GOOD LWR LVL CONVERGENCE SHOWN IN Q-VECTORS...THROUGH MONDAY UNTIL MONDAY NIGHT. DO NOT FEEL THERE WILL BE MUCH IN THE WAY OF TSRA HOWEVER CANNOT RULE OUT A STRAY STORM WITH CAPES LINGERING AROUND 1000 J/KG ON MONDAY. SIMILAR ISOLATED WORDING SHUD WORK. BOTH MODELS BRING AN AREA OF LOW PRES NE WARD ALONG THE FRONT AND PUSH IT ACRS OUR FA ON MONDAY. H7 RH/VV PLOT SHOWS BULLSEYE OF VV AND HIGH RH ACRS CENTRAL INDIANA. ONCE THIS AREA OF LOW PRES PASSES...BY MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVE...LOOK FOR THINGS TO BEGIN TO DRY OUT. TIME SECTIONS AT THAT TIME SHOW MID AND UPPER LVL DRYING WORKING IN ACRS THE AREA FROM THE NW. ALSO THE S/W IS ON IT/S WAY OUT AT THAT TIME. WL STILL KEEP LOW CHC POPS FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND TAPER THINGS OFF THROUGH THE NIGHT AS DRIER AIR WORKS IN. ALSO WL TRY AND KEEP HIGHEST POPS ON MON NIGHT ACRS THE SE AND LOWER POPS NW DUE TO THE PROXIMITY OF THE MOISTURE. WITH LITTLE CHANGE IN H8 TEMPS THROUGH THE PD WL LEAN TOWARD PERSISTENCE FOR TEMPS. MAV HIGHS LOOK A BIT IN REGARD TO THAT ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE EXPECTED RAINFALL. .IND...NONE. PUMA
INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-011100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 600 AM EST SUN AUG 31 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THOUGH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR TODAY AND TONIGHT...THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS OR DAMAGING HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THUNDERSTORMS ON MONDAY MAY PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS OR DAMAGING HAIL DURING THE AFTERNOON OR EARLY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. DRT
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Brief tornado touchdown reported by law enforcement 2 miles east of Odon. Tornado was on the ground for only about a minute with a few trees the only casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Indiana, 2003Warnings in Indiana, 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: 5378317.