1 flood, 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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 13, 3:55 AM EST, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 355 AM EST TUE MAY 13 2003 ...MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM WILL BE AMOUNT OF CLOUDS AND TSRA CHANCES WED INTO THURS... IR SATELLITE SHOWING UPPER LOW SPINNING OVER WESTERN NEW ENGLAND WITH HIGH PRESSURE OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL US. MOSTLY CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ACROSS INDIANA WITH TEMPS IN THE 40S. MODELS IN AGREEMENT MOVING UPPER LOW OFF EAST COAST BY 00Z WED. DO START TO SEE SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES WITH NEXT SYSTEM. GFS DEVELOPS CLOSED LOW BY 18Z TUE WHILE MESOETA SHOWS CLOSED LOW BY 00Z WED. GFS IS A BIT STRONGER AND SLOWER WITH SYSTEM AS WELL. WL LEAN TOWARD THE GFS FOR FORECAST SINCE CURRENT TRENDS ARE SIMILAR TO MODEL OUTPUT. H8 RIDGE CONTS TO MV INTO MIDWEST WITH NW WINDS SHIFTING TO SW BY 06Z WED. WAA BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE ACROSS INDIANA WITH APPROACH OF NORTHERN PLAINS LOW. TIME HEIGHT SECTIONS SHOW PC TO MS SKIES TODAY. OMEGA INCREASES AS LOW APPROACHES WED INTO THURS. WL BUMP UP POPS WED AS DEWPOINTS REBOUND INTO THE 50S. WL ALSO INTRODUCE THE CHANCE FOR -TSRA ACROSS FA WED NIGHT INTO THURS WITH LIS AND CAPE SHOWING A LITTLE INSTABILITY. CLOUDS WL LINGER UNTIL SYSTEM MOVE EAST THEN SHOULD SEE SOME CLEARING. MAV TEMPS SLIGHTLY COOLER THAN MET FOR TODAYS HIGHS. WL LEAN TOWARD COOLER MAV SINCE WINDS WL CONT FROM W/NW. HIGHS TO WEST WERE IN UPPER 60S TO LOWER 70S IN FULL SUN YESTERDAY SO WL CONT WITH TREND TODAY. TONIGHT...MAV LOOKS A BIT WARM EVEN WITH WEAK WAA. WL USE COOLER MET/FWC FOR LOWS. CLOUDS AND RAIN CHANCES WED WL KEEP TEMPS COOL AND GUIDANCE TEMPS AGREE. WL USE A BLEND FOR WED AND WED NIGHT. .IND...NONE BIELINSKI
INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-141045- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 543 AM EST TUE MAY 13 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS PLACED PORTIONS OF EXTREME WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN INDIANA IN A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY. ACROSS THE REST OF CENTRAL INDIANA...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE. THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LIMITS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN INDIANA. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL... HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/IND (ALL LOWER CASE)
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Extensive agricultural flooding occurred. The flooding lagged heavy rain that fell well upstream by around 4 days. The crest at VNCI3 was 17.55 feet (FS - 16 feet) and at VINI3 was 18.92 (FS - 17.5 feet) both on the 17th.
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, May 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: 5354239.