Hail in Iowa, September 26, 2003

Name: Hail in Iowa, September 26, 2003
Start: 2003-09-26T15:00
End: 2003-09-26T15:15
Location: Iowa

September 26, 2003 · NWS DMX · 3 events in 2 counties and zones

A cold front moved southeast across the state during the morning and early afternoon hours. A secondary cold front dropped into central Iowa during the mid afternoon hours.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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.

A cold front moved southeast across the state during the morning and early afternoon hours. A secondary cold front dropped into central Iowa during the mid afternoon hours. Though most of the moisture had been pushed southeast of the area following the first front, dew point temperatures did pool into the low to mid 50s just ahead of the secondary front. This in combination with a strong upper level jet max sweeping southeast into the state set the stage for a narrow line of thunderstorms to develop. A small cluster of thunderstorms became marginally severe and produced pea to penny size hail in Hamilton County. The hail reportedly covered the ground east of Ellsworth. As the cell progressed south, hail the size of nickels covered the ground northeast of Roland.

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 Sep 26, 1:45 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 26, 1:45 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
245 PM CDT FRI SEP 26 2003

SHORT TERM...
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING IMPRESSIVE S/WV MOVING ACROSS IA ATTM.
SFC FNT THROUGH FA ALONG SFC BASED INSTABILITY AND SVR THREAT SHOULD
BE SE OF DMX CWA THIS EVENING.  ISOLD TSTMS/SHOWERS DEVELOPED OVR NW
FA IN WELL MIXED AMS. EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO DIE QUICKLY THIS
EVENING AS UPR ENERGY PASSES AND LOSE OF HEATING BUT WL MENTION THIS
EVENING.  SUBSIDENCE SW OF VORT OVER NC IA AND DECENT GRADIENT
SHOULD RESULT IN FAIRLY GOOD WINDS THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY SW.

MID TERM...
OVER THE WEEKEND...CAA WILL DOMINATE SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY AS
850 MB TEMPS COOL ABOUT 4 DEGREES C FROM SATURDAY MAX HEATING TO
SUNDAY MAX HEATING.  FAIR AMOUNT OF MID LEVEL INSTABILITY SUGGESTED
SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH CYCLONIC LOW-LVL FLOW. WILL INTRODUCE ISOLD
SHOWERS IN MAX HEATING TIME NRN FA.  TEMPS SATURDAY SHOULD BE ABOUT
5 DEGREES F WARMER THAN SUNDAY BASED ON THERMAL PATTERN.

LONG TERM...
MEDIUM RANGE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH DEEP UPPER TROF OVR NC
US.  S/WV DIVES SOUTH FROM HIGH ARCTIC EARLY NEXT WEEK AND DRIVES
COLDEST AMS INTO UPPER MIDWEST LATE MONDAY INTO TUESDAY.  MONDAY
SHOULD BE THE MILDEST DAY BEING AHEAD OF CDFNT AND WITH WSW FLOW.
GFS PLACES CENTER OF SFC HIGH OVER NRN PLAINS WED AT 12Z AND OVER
SRN IA/NRN MO 12Z THU.  AMS SHOULD MODERATE SOME WED BUT COLDEST
MORNING VERY WELL MIGHT BE THURSDAY IN IA.  WILL GO BLO FREEZING
TEMPS NRN FA WED AND AROUND FREEZING S THU.  MODERATING TEMPS AND
DRY THU AND FRI.

.DSM...NONE

JOHNSON

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 26, 11:13 AM CST, 3 hours 47 minutes before

IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075-081>086-
092>097-271100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1213 PM CDT FRI SEP 26 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL IOWA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

BANDS OF SHOWERS...MOSTLY LIGHT TO MODERATE...WILL CONTINUE MOVING
AT A RAPID PACE SOUTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON...AND BY MID AFTERNOON
SHOULD BE OVER THE SOUTHEAST PORTION OF CENTRAL IOWA.  EMBEDDED
THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING LIGHTNING AND BRIEF MODERATE DOWNPOURS CAN
BE EXPECTED MAINLY SOUTHEAST OF A GRINNELL...KNOXVILLE...LAMONI
LINE.  ISOLATED PEA SIZED HAIL AND WIND GUST TO 35 MPH ARE POSSIBLE
WITH THE HEAVIER STORMS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

VERY COLD AIR IS FORECAST INTO MID IOWA THIS WEEK...WITH THE
COLDEST WEATHER ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY MORNINGS.  THE POTENTIAL
FOR FROST AND FREEZE CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR BOTH MORNINGS ACROSS
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN IOWA. OVERNIGHT LOWS BY WEDNESDAY MORNING COULD
BE IN THE UPPER 20S FOR SEVERAL HOURS.

.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 radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Hamilton

When: September 26, 3:00 PM CST
Where: Hamilton County, 3 mi S of Ellsworth
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 42.267, -93.583

Hail, Hamilton

When: September 26, 3:00 PM CST
Where: Hamilton County, Randall
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: UNKNOWN
Coordinates: 42.233, -93.600

Hail, Story

When: September 26, 3:15 PM CST
Where: Story County, 2 mi NE of Roland
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: UNKNOWN
Coordinates: 42.183, -93.467

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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, September 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: 5337883, 5337884, 5337885.