Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, July 9, 2003

Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, July 9, 2003
Start: 2003-07-09T01:02
End: 2003-07-09T04:59
Location: Iowa

July 9, 2003 · NWS DMX · 7 events in 5 counties and zones

Once again strong convection affected Iowa during the overnight hours. A forward propagating MCS developed over the High Plains of western Nebraska into western South Dakota.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $68,000
Crop damage: $25,000
Events: 7

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS DMX wrote it up.

Once again strong convection affected Iowa during the overnight hours. A forward propagating MCS developed over the High Plains of western Nebraska into western South Dakota. The MCS advanced east through the night. During the early predawn hours, thunderstorms developed along the upper air warm front extending from north of Des Moines toward Sioux City. Very heavy rainfall of 2 to 5 inches occurred along this line, though little in the way of severe weather occurred with it. There was one storm that developed further south and dropped one inch diameter hail north of Vail in Crawford County. Shortly before sunrise, the lead bow echo from the MCS entered the DMX CWA. As it did, it produced pea to marble size hail and 30 to 50 MPH winds at most locations. High winds of 60 to 70 MPH were reported in a few locations, causing damage in the form of blown down trees and power line damage. Winds in the Grand Junction area of Greene County knocked out windows in a house there. As the winds moved into the Ogden area of Boone County, several trees were downed on a farmstead there. Two cars were destroyed, a 1992 Chevrolet pickup and a mid 1980s Dodge.

What forecasters said that day

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 Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 8, 2:40 PM CST, 10 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 8, 2:40 PM CST, 10 hours 22 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
340 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 2003

BUSY FOR AWILE THIS MRNG BUT WX HAS SETTLED DOWN FOR THE MOMENT.
BNDRY HAS PUSHED A BIT TO THE S THIS AFTN DUE TO THE MRNG
CONVECTION. H8 BNDRY RMNS E/W ACRS CNTRL IA AND SHOULD THE FOCUS FOR
MORE DVLPMT LTR TNGT INTO TMR. LOOKING FOR THE BL BNDRY TO SHIFT NWD
TNGT TO NR I-80 AND PROBABLY HANG THERE. NXT WAVE COMING OFF THE NRN
RCKYS ATTM AND LOOKING QUITE STG. THE ETA REALLY WANTS TO DEEPEN
THIS ONE WITH THE UPSHOT BEING A SHARS TYPE EVENT OVR NRN IA/SRN MN.
THIS IS PROBABLY A STG SOLUTION AND TREND TO A MORE OPEN WAVE...BUT
STILL CAN NOT IGNORE THE HVY PCPN THREAT. THUS A FLOOD WATCH HAS/WL
BE ISSUED. ACTIVITY SHOULD BE OUT OF THE CWA TMR EVE WITH
COMFORTABLE AND DRY WX TO FOLLOW FOR SVRL DAYS AS A HOPEFULLY DRY
AND DISTURBANCE FREE NW FLOW SETS UP. LATE DAY6 INTO DAY 7 STILL
LOOKING UNSETTLED AS THE WRN RDG BREAKS DOWN.

.DSM...NONE

MYERS

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 8, 2:50 PM CST, 10 hours 12 minutes before

IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075-081>086-
092>097-082300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
350 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL IOWA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT MAINLY OVER SOUTHERN
IOWA NEAR A STATIONARY FRONT WHICH EXTENDS FROM NEBRASKA INTO
SOUTHERN IOWA.  THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND
INTENSITY AFTER 9 PM.  A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE
OUT OF MONTANA AND INTO CENTRAL IOWA LATE THIS EVENING AND
OVERNIGHT.  THIS UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL INTERACT WITH THE
STATIONARY FRONT TO INTENSIFY THUNDERSTORMS.  THE STORMS TONIGHT
WILL PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DAMAGING WIND.  LARGE HAIL IS ALSO
POSSIBLE.  A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT TONIGHT FOR LOCATIONS ALONG
AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 FOR RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES
WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS UP TO 5 INCHES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AS THAT STRONG
STORM SYSTEM PUSHES EAST ACROSS IOWA.  THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER
CENTRAL IOWA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENING.
&&

MORE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DMX (ALL LOWER
CASE).

MR/FAB

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 8, 7:02 PM CST, 6 hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0802 PM CDT TUE JUL 08 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0629 PM    1 S SEYMOUR               IA   1.00 IN HAIL
07/08/03   WAYNE

0602 PM    ANITA                     IA   1.75 IN HAIL
07/08/03   CASS

SJT

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Crawford

When: July 9, 1:02 AM CST
Where: Crawford County, 1 mi S of Vail
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $3,000
Crop damage: $10,000
Reported by: UNKNOWN
Coordinates: 42.050, -95.200

Thunderstorm Wind, Greene

When: July 9, 4:30 AM CST
Where: Greene County, Grand Jct
Measured: 64 kt (74 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: $10,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 42.033, -94.233

Thunderstorm Wind, Boone

When: July 9, 4:45 AM CST
Where: Boone County, Ogden
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.033, -94.033

Thunderstorm Wind, Dallas

When: July 9, 4:46 AM CST
Where: Dallas County, Perry
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.833, -94.117

Thunderstorm Wind, Boone

When: July 9, 4:50 AM CST
Where: Boone County, Boone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.067, -93.883

Thunderstorm Wind, Dallas

When: July 9, 4:53 AM CST
Where: Dallas County, Adel
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NWS EMPLOYEE(OFF DUTY)
Coordinates: 41.617, -94.017

Thunderstorm Wind, Polk

When: July 9, 4:59 AM CST
Where: Polk County, West Des Moines
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: NWS EMPLOYEE(OFF DUTY)
Coordinates: 41.583, -93.717

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, July 2003

Sources

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: 5367092, 5367096, 5367098, 5367094, 5367093, 5367095, 5367097.