1 tornado, 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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 24, 2:33 PM CST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
333 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND FLOODING ARE AGAIN THE MAIN FORECAST ISSUES.
A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS COVERS THE ENTIRE AREA WITH MORNING
BOUNDARIES FORCED NORTH INTO SD. 18Z SOUNDING HAD EXTREME LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE WEAKLY CAPPED BY MID LEVEL DRY LAYER...BUT CAP IS NOW
BROKEN IN SE NEBRASKA. WITH A LACK OF LOW LEVEL BOUNDARIES FOR
FOCUS...AND ONLY MODEST LOW LEVEL SHEAR...IMMEDIATE SEVERE POTENTIAL
WILL LIKELY BE PULSE TYPE STORMS. CONVECTION LIKELY MUCH MORE
ORGANIZED IN TOR WATCH AREA OF NORTHEAST NEBRASKA...WHERE OUTFLOW/
FRONTAL BOUNDARIES ARE LIKELY TO SET UP. STRONG LOW LEVEL JET RIDING
OVER ANY BOUNDARY WILL ALSO SET UP FLOOD POTENTIAL IN ADDITION TO
ONGOING FLOODING IN KNOX COUNTY. FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR
TONIGHT.
12Z MESOETA HAD A REASONABLE IDEA FOR OVERALL PROGRESS OF COLD FRONT
ON WED. THIS WOULD LEAVE THE CHC OF MORE SEVERE WEATHER IN THE
SOUTHEAST PART OF THE AREA IN THE AFTERNOON...BUT MAINLY SOME
LEFTOVER SHOWERS AND TSTMS IN THE NORTHWEST...ALONG WITH MUCH COOLER
TEMPS. RAIN SHOULD END EARLY WED NIGHT FOLLOWED BY CLEARING AND
COOLER ALL AREAS.
FEW CHANGES TO LATER PERIODS OF THE FORECAST. PUT IN A SLIGHT
CHANCE OF TSTMS AS THE NEXT FRONT COMES THROUGH SAT INTO SAT NIGHT.
.OMA...FLOOD WATCH THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT KNOX...CEDAR...WAYNE...
PIERCE...AND ANTELOPE COUNTIES
POLLACKIAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-251030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 500 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PARTS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS ALL OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA TONIGHT. LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND A FEW TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE AREA. WIND SHEAR WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELL STORMS TO DEVELOP THIS EVENING OVER MUCH OF THE OUTLOOK AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR PARTS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA AS A COLD FRONT MOVES ACROSS EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. SOME STORMS COULD BE SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. CURRENTLY IT APPEARS THE MAIN THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER WEDNESDAY NIGHT WILL GENERALLY BE SOUTH OF A LINE FROM BEATRICE TO ONAWA IOWA. STORM SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. FOBERT
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
518 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0515 PM COLERIDGE NE .75 INCH HAIL
06/24/03 CEDAR REPORTED BY NWS EMPLOYEE.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
553 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0553 PM 10 E COUNCIL BLUFFS IA TORNADO
06/24/03 POTTAWATTAMIE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.The Omaha radar (KOAX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:54 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter reported a brief touchdown of a tornado in an open field around 10 miles east of Council Bluffs. The tornado was also spotted by air traffic controllers at Omaha Eppley Airfield.
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, June 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: 5369557.