1 flash 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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 9, 1:38 AM CST, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 238 AM CDT WED JUL 9 2003 THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO ROLL ACROSS THE CWA LATE TONIGHT...WITH THE BACK EDGE MOVING INTO MO RIVER VALLEY AREA AROUND 0730Z. MAY SEE SOME ADDITIONAL SCATTERED THUNDER BEHIND THIS AS THE SFC FRONT STILL TRAILS MCS. NOT NEARLY AS MUCH SEVERE AS EXPECTED...LIKELY BECAUSE OF THE LARGE MCS ACROSS NE. LOW LEVEL JET PROBABLY HITTING A WALL IN AND AROUND THIS MCS...TAKING AWAY OUR LOW LEVEL TRANSPORT OF WARM...MOIST AIR. WAS EXPECTING CONVECTION CURRENTLY OVER NW IA TO EXTEND INTO SOUTHERN SD. UPPER WAVE STRONG ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN A NICE CONVECTIVE LINE THOUGH...AND MOST LOCATIONS WILL SEE RAIN BEFORE 15Z THIS MORNING....WITH THE LOWEST CHANCES OVER EXTREME SOUTHERN SD. FOR TODAY...WILL LIKELY SEE QUITE A BIT OF RESIDUAL CU AROUND...EVEN THOUGH SUBSIDENCE WILL SET IN BEHIND MCS. INSTABILITY SHIFTS SOUTHEAST OF THE CWA BY LATE AFTERNOON AND UNLIKELY MUCH WILL OCCUR...AS NO MAJOR COLD POOL ALOFT COMES IN WITH SYSTEM. WILL LEAVE A CHANCE MAINLY EAST OF I29 THIS AFTERNOON...BUT NOT REAL EXCITED ABOUT CHANCES. HIGH TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE SIMILAR TO YESTERDAY...ALTHOUGH A LITTLE COOLER OVER SOUTHWEST MN. SOUTHERN CWA SHOULD SEE WARMEST TEMPS WHERE DRY SLOT/SUBSIDENCE TO BE STRONGEST. STARTING TONIGHT...NO REAL GREAT CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS UNTIL SUNDAY NIGHT...SO WILL KEEP DRY THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. BEHIND THIS WAVE WE STAY IN NORTHWEST FLOW SO NO MAJOR WARM UP EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES AT OR BELOW NORMAL THROUGH SATURDAY. WILL LIKELY LET FLOOD WATCH GO...ALTHOUGH NORTHWEST IOWA COULD END UP WITH SOME HEAVY AMOUNTS. SD COUNTIES SHOULD BE OK. .FSD... 08
SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098-IAZ001>003- 012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-091200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 1058 AM CDT TUE JUL 08 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS... AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON....WHICH WILL GIVE THE TRI STATE THE POTENTIAL FOR A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP FIRST AHEAD OF A WEAK UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON AND THESE STORMS WILL MAINLY AFFECT AREAS ALONG AND NORTH OF SOUTH DAKOTA HIGHWAY 14. THEN LATER THIS AFTERNOON...STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG THE WARM FRONT OVER NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND NORTHWEST IOWA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL. STORMS ARE ALSO EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF THE STRONGER UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM AND SPREAD EAST WITH TIME. BY LATE EVENING THE STORMS WILL MERGE INTO A LARGE CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE STRONG WINDS AND OCCASIONAL HAIL. FLOODING... PERSISTENT RAINFALL OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS HAS SATURATED THE GROUND IN MANY LOCATIONS ACROSS THE AREA. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE TONIGHT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS COULD EXCEED THREE INCHES IN SOME AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY AFTER 2 PM ALONG AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 14 AND AFTER 7 PM TO THE SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 14. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
126 AM CDT WED JUL 09 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0114 AM 3 N HOLSTEIN IA 1 INCH HAIL
07/09/03 IDA REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0114 AM 3 N HOLSTEIN IA 1 INCH HAIL
07/09/03 CHEROKEE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
331 AM CDT WED JUL 09 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0114 AM 3 N HOLSTEIN IA 1 INCH HAIL
07/09/03 IDA REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0114 AM 3 N HOLSTEIN IA 1 INCH HAIL
07/09/03 CHEROKEE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0217 AM CLEGHORN IA 1 INCH HAIL
07/09/03 CHEROKEE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.IAZ020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-SDZ050-057>060-063>065-068-069-090915- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 351 AM CDT WED JUL 9 2003 ...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 693 CANCELLED... ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 694 CANCELLED... THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS DIMINISHED ACROSS SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA AND EXTREME NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. THEREFORE THE WATCHED HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:58 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rain caused rapid flooding of county roads and fields.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5330216.