Tornado touched down near the intersection of Zelda Drive and E Avenue Northwest. 25 miles across Peace Avenue and then lifted on Floral Avenue.
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 episode as NWS DVN wrote it up.
Tornado touched down near the intersection of Zelda Drive and E Avenue Northwest. The tornado moved southeast for 0.25 miles across Peace Avenue and then lifted on Floral Avenue. The tornado reached peak intensity on Peace Avenue where F2 winds unroofed 3 homes, and 26 other homes were heavily damaged. This was the first tornado inside the Cedar Rapids city limits since 1965.
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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 20, 8:35 PM CST, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 935 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003 JUST UPDATED FOR NEW WATCH...MADE FEW CHANGES TO WORDING...NOW THAT THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE FINALLY MATERIALIZED. DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. LE
IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-211015- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 522 AM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003...CORRECTION TO COUNTY CODING THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN IOWA... NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FOR MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS OF 60 TO 90 MPH. SECONDARY THREATS INCLUDE LARGE HAIL...LOCALIZED FLOODING AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. THUNDERSTORMS OVER WESTERN MINNESOTA EARLY THIS MORNING...WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO PORTIONS OF NORTHERN IOWA. THESE STORMS WITH THE HELP OF AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE COULD REINTENSIFY OVER NORTH CENTRAL IOWA LATE THIS MORNING THEN PROPAGATE EAST SOUTHEAST INTO AREAS MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 30 DURING THE AFTERNOON BRINGING THE THREAT OF DAMAGING WINDS OF 60 TO 70 MPH AND ISOLATED LARGE HAIL. SURFACE LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTH DAKOTA...WILL MOVE INTO NORTHWEST IOWA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED OVER NORTHWEST IOWA THIS AFTERNOON AS THIS SURFACE LOW ENCOUNTERS STRONG INSTABILITY WHILE INTERACTING WITH AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY LEFT BEHIND FROM THE MORNING THUNDERSTORMS. THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL THEN MOVE RAPIDLY SOUTHEAST DUE TO STRENGTHENING WINDS IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE...BRINGING A THREAT OF DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT TO AREAS MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 30. THERE IS A COMPLICATING FACTOR TO THE SEVERE POTENTIAL...AND THAT IS THE AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER. LOW CLOUDS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF I 80 THIS MORNING WILL GRADUALLY GIVE WAY TO WIDESPREAD HIGH CLOUDINESS. THIS WILL HELP TO LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY INTO THE AFTERNOON. SHOULD THE CLOUDS LINGER THEN THE BOUNDARY LAYER INSTABILITY WILL BE REDUCED...THEREBY LIMITING THE SEVERE POTENTIAL. HOWEVER...AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON OR POSSIBLY EARLIER THE CLOUDS WILL THIN SUFFICIENTLY TO ALLOW RAPID DESTABILIZATION...ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF I 80...WHERE STRONG TO EXTREME INSTABILITY IS LIKELY WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S. THE COMBINATION OF STRONG TO EXTREME INSTABILITY AND UNSEASONABLY STRONG MID LEVEL WINDS WOULD BE CONDUCIVE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTENSE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING VERY DAMAGING WINDS OF 70 TO 90 MPH. HAIL UP TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER WOULD ALSO BE POSSIBLE. INTENSE RAINFALL RATES COULD LEAD TO SOME LOCATIONS RECEIVING BETWEEN 1 AND 2 INCHES OF RAIN IN LESS THAN ONE HOUR...RESULTING IN LOCALIZED FLOODING. EVENTUALLY A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION OVERNIGHT...ENDING THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS AND SEVERE WEATHER FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING INTERNET WEB SITE: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DVN (ALL LOWER CASE) 05
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1043 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1039 PM 1 W URBANA IA 45 MPH TSTM GUST
07/20/03 BENTON PEA SIZED HAIL AND
WINDS GUSTING TO 45MPH.
REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1048 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1047 PM 5 N VINTON IA 60 MPH TSTM GUST
07/20/03 BENTON REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1054 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1049 PM URBANA IA 40 MPH TSTM GUST
07/20/03 BENTON REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1056 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1048 PM CENTER PT IA .75 INCH HAIL
07/20/03 LINN REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT.
1048 PM CENTER PT IA 70 MPH TSTM GUST
07/20/03 LINNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1102 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1102 PM ATKINS IA 50 MPH TSTM GUST
07/20/03 BENTON REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1104 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1102 PM MARTELLE IA TORNADO
07/20/03 JONES REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong F2...winds estimated at 140 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2003Warnings in Iowa, 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: 5369067.