2 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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 3:30 PM EST, 2 hours 9 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 330 PM EST FRI JUL 4 2003 SHORT TERM DISCUSSION... PRIMARY FORECAST CONCERN IS SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT THIS EVENING. TSRA HAVE DEVELOPED RAPIDLY IN THE PAST HOUR. ACTIVITY IS FOCUSED ALONG TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDING FROM WESTERN LOWER MICHIGAN TO CENTRAL ILLINOIS. GIVEN EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS...SURFACE BASED LI VALUES TO MINUS 13 IN MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AXIS...PLUS MID LEVEL DISTURBANCE WORKING ACROSS...EXPECT CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT AND SEVERE STORMS LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SUPPORT SOMEWHAT WEAKER OVER LOWER MICHIGAN...AND WILL GO WITH SCATTERED WORDING THERE...WITH LIKELY POPS ELSEWHERE. PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER HAZARD WILL BE WIND AND WILL WORD AS SUCH IN ZONES...BUT SOME HAIL ALSO POSSIBLE. LITTLE CHANGE IN AIRMASS THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. GFS CONTINUED TO HAVE FEEDBACK PROBLEMS AND THUS QPF BULLSEYE VALUES DISCOUNTED. IN GENERAL...MODELS INDICATE A SERIES OF WEAK MID LEVEL DISTURBANCES IN FLAT FLOW. WITH AMPLE MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY EACH DAY...POPS WARRANTED. AS FOR TEMPERATURES...BLENDED COOLER MAV AND WARMER MET AND FWC HIGHS NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. PREFER WARMER FWC LOWS...GIVEN CURRENT DEWPOINTS AND LITTLE AIRMASS CHANGE. EXTENDED DISCUSSION... LATEST MRF AND ECMWF RUNS BOTH EXHIBITED POOR RUN TO RUN CONTINUITY...BUT DID INDICATE RIDGING AT SURFACE AND ALOFT BUILDING IN FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. LATEST AVN RUN TO 120 HOURS ALSO SUPPORTS DRY FORECAST...SO WILL KEEP THOSE PERIODS DRY. AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 18Z... MCS HAD ADVANCED INTO NW OHIO WITH WINDS GENERALLY E TO SE IN THE RAIN COOLED AREA. OUTFLOW BOUNDARY PUT DOWN BY THE MCS WAS SOUTH OF SBN AND FWA. THIS BOUNDARY SHOULD BECOME A FOCUS FOR ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THIS AFTERNOON AS EXTREMELY UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS DEVELOP...SO HAVE ENTERED THUNDER IN TAFS GENERALLY 20Z TO 03Z TO CORRESPOND TO BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDER. .IWX... IN...NONE. MI...NONE. OH...NONE. BARJENBRUCH
INZ003>009-012>018-020-022>027-032>034-MIZ077>081-OHZ001-002-004-005- 015-016-024-025-051000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 435 PM EST FRI JUL 4 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHERN INDIANA...NORTHWEST OHIO AND SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS...PRIMARY SOUTH OF THE INDIANA...MICHIGAN STATE LINE. ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT OVER SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN...NORTHERN INDIANA AND NORTHWEST OHIO...WITH SEVERE STORMS AGAIN POSSIBLE. ANY SEVERE WEATHER WILL MOST LIKELY BE IN THE FORM OF DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THE STORMS WILL BE TRIGGERED BY A SERIES OF MID LEVEL DISTURBANCES AND A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE...IN COMBINATION WITH A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE THIS AFTERNOON AND MAY AGAIN BE REQUIRED LATER TONIGHT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/IWX BARJENBRUCH
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
0458 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0448 PM 2 W PAYNE OH 0.75 IN HAIL
07/04/03 PAULDING
0450 PM COLUMBIA CITY IN 62 MPH WIND GUST
07/04/03 WHITLEY
0430 PM 9 N FORT WAYNE IN 0.75 IN HAIL
07/04/03 ALLEN
HITCHCOCKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
0504 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0445 PM COLUMBIA CITY IN 60 MPH WIND GUST
07/04/03 WHITLEY REPORTED BY OFF DUTY NWS
EMPLOYEE
0458 PM 2 N PAULDING OH 0.75 IN HAIL
07/04/03 PAULDING
HITCHCOCKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
0516 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0515 PM 1 N DECATUR IN 1.75 IN HAIL
07/04/03 ADAMS
HITCHCOCKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
0518 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0518 PM 2 NW DECATUR IN 1.50 IN HAIL
07/04/03 ADAMS
HITCHCOCKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
0520 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0520 PM WARSAW IN 0.75 IN HAIL
07/04/03 KOSCIUSKO
HITCHCOCKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
0538 PM EST FRI JUL 04 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0537 PM OHIO CITY OH 60 MPH WIND GUST
07/04/03 VAN WERT ESTIMATED BY TRAINED
SPOTTER
HITCHCOCKThe Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:39 UTC.
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
An NWS storm survey team found F1 damage from a tornado that touched down 2 miles southeast of Plum tree and exited Huntington county into Wells county 4 miles southeast of Plum Tree. Damage was to a farm house as well as trees and a power pole snapped.
This tornado originated in Huntington county southeast of Plum Tree and crossed into Wells county 3 miles northwest of Liberty center and lifted 3 miles south of Liberty Center. F1 damage was to a home...as well as trees and power poles snapped.
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, July 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: 5373780, 5373781.