17 hail, 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 Mar 20, 9:12 AM EST, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 912 AM EST THU MAR 20 2003 18Z AVIATION DISCUSSION... CURRENT TSTM W OF SBN MOVG N AND SHOULD NOT AFFECT 18Z TAFSBN. OTRW...WILL TIME TSTMS IN MID AFTN DURING MAX HEATING TIME OF DAY...NOT A WHOLE LOT OF IMPRESSIVE SUPPORT OTRW. AS SFC LOW PUSHES THROUGH TONIGHT WITH WIDESPREAD RH AND GOOD LIFT WILL PUT PREVIALING -SHRA IN BOTH TAFS FROM 09-15Z. WILL BRING VSBYS DOWN SOMEWHAT BUT SHOULDNT GET AS LOW AS LAST COUPLE OF NIGHTS. PREVIOUS DISUCCSION SURFACE OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT DENSE FOG HAS LIFTED ACROSS ALL BUT NORTHEASTERN QUARTER OF COUNTY WARNING AND FORECAST AREA. WITH INCREASING SOUTHERLY FLOW AND MIXING...WL ALLOW DENSE FOG ADVISORY TO EXPIRE...BUT WILL KEEP A MENTION OF PATCHY DENSE FOG THROUGH LATE MORNING IN THE NORTHEAST. MODIFIED SOUNDINGS SUGGEST CAPES IN EXCESS OF 1500 J/KG THIS AFT...A BIT HIGHER THAN PROGGED BY MESO ETA WHICH APPEARS TO BE TOO DRY WITH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE. CURRENT WIND FIELDS INDICATE VEERING THROUGH 700 MB...THOUGH WIND FIELDS PROGGED TO BECOME MORE UNIDIRECTIONAL THIS AFTERNOON. WITH A WEB BULB ZERO AROUND 7K FT AND COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT...BELIEVE HAIL IS STILL PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER HAZARD. BASED ON CURRENT TEMPERATURES AND SOME MORNING SUNSHINE...WILL BUMP UP HIGH TEMPERATURES A BIT MOST LOCATIONS. BARJENBRUCH AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 12Z TAFS VWP SHOWING LOW LEVEL WINDS ABOVE INVERSION LAYER DECREASING IN VELOCITY AND WILL NO LONGER MAKE MENTION LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR. SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER SOUTHEAST MO WILL ALONG WITH STEEP MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES DEVELOP TSRA AT SBN AND FWA LATER THIS AFTERNOON...TRIED TO CHOOSE BEST 3 HOURS FOR EVENT. WITH LOW WET BULB ZERO SOME CONCERN FOR HAIL BUT WITH SUCH AN ISOLATED AREA COVERED BY TERMINAL FORECAST WILL NOT INCLUDE AT THIS TIME. FOG COULD BE A CONCERN LATER TONIGHT AS WELL...FOR NOW JUST WENT WITH UPPER END IFR VISIBILITIES. PBM .IWX... IN...NONE. MI...NONE. OH...NONE.
INZ003>009-012>018-020-022>027-032>034-MIZ077>081-OHZ001-002-004-005- 015-016-024-025-211030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 536 AM EST THU MAR 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHERN INDIANA...NORTHWEST OHIO AND SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. HAIL UP TO ONE AND ONE HALF INCH IN DIAMETER IS POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGER STORMS. DAMAGING WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE...HOWEVER...THE GREATEST THREAT FROM STORMS IS LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE FRIDAY...LATE MONDAY AND TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES, OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/IWX
The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:23 UTC.
17 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Dime size hail was reported between Leesburg and North Webster, with the storm then producing nickel size hail in the town of North Webster.
Dime size hail was reported just inside the Noble county. Wolcottville is located on the Lagrange/Noble county line.
Several reports of dime size hail were received from in and around Fort Wayne.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, 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: 5346787, 5346788, 5346789, 5346790, 5346791, 5346898, 5346899, 5345241, 5346900, 5345242, 5345244, 5345245, 5345243, 5345246, 5345247, 5345248, 5345249.