A cold front moved into Iowa from the west. Considerable moisture was drawn north on southerly winds ahead of the front with dew points rising into the mid 60s to low 70s across the state.
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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 DMX wrote it up.
A cold front moved into Iowa from the west. Considerable moisture was drawn north on southerly winds ahead of the front with dew points rising into the mid 60s to low 70s across the state. A band of thunderstorms formed ahead of the cold front on what was the warm conveyer belt. One of the storms became severe south of Creston and spawned a small tornado. The tornado touched down about a mile south of town and moved north-northeast through the town of Creston. Several buildings were damaged. One of the buildings lost the entire end of the structure. A few farmsteads were affected as well. As the storm moved through Creston, several houses had roof and window damage.
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 Sep 11, 12:20 PM CST, 1 hour 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 120 PM CDT THU SEP 11 2003 A BREAK IN THE CLOUD COVER HAS REALLY BOOSTED TEMPS. ANOTHER UPDATE IS REQUIRED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE ADDITIONAL SUNSHINE AND RESULTANT BUMP IN TEMPS. SOME DESTABILIZATION IS OCCURRING OVER THE WESTERN THIRD OF THE CWA SO SHOWER ACTIVITY SHOULD INCREASE OVER THE NEXT COUPLE HOURS. THIS IS ALREADY ACCOUNTED FOR. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD STILL BE ISOLATED THOUGH LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING MAY SEE SCATTERED COVERAGE...DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH DAYTIME HEATING CAN DESTABILIZE THE AIRMASS. I STILL THINK SURFACE BASED WILL BE SLOW TO OCCUR SO I WILL LEAVE THE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM WORDING AS IS. .DSM...NONE FAB
IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075-081>086- 092>097-121100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 440 AM CDT THU SEP 11 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL IOWA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT ENTERING WESTERN IOWA WILL BRING A LONG BAND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH IT THROUGH THE DAY. THE AXIS OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA FROM NORTH TO SOUTH LATE THIS AFTERNOON. HEATING ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA SHOULD INTENSIFY THE STORMS TO MODERATE OR HEAVY LEVELS...PRODUCING LOCAL DOWNPOURS...GUSTY WINDS TO 35 MPH...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. AS THE COLD FRONT MOVES EAST...RAINFALL SHOULD END TONIGHT IN WESTERN PORTIONS OF CENTRAL IOWA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL STALL ACROSS SOUTHEAST IOWA ON FRIDAY...ENABLING FURTHER CHANCES OF LIGHT TO MODERATE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY INTO FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY ALONG THE FRONT. AGAIN...ISOLATED HEAVIER STORMS ARE POSSIBLE PRODUCING LOCAL DOWNPOURS...GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS UNLIKELY AT THIS TIME. && MORE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DMX (ALL LOWER CASE). KULA
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:54 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado cut a continous path from south of Creston through the town of Creston.
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, September 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: 5337882.