4 hail, 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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 24, 12:55 AM CST, 12 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KANSAS 155 AM CDT THU APR 24 2003 ...PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURES THE MAIN CONCERNS... 00Z TOPEKA SOUNDING HAD BACKED WINDS THROUGH 150MB WITH NEARLY STACKED SYSTEM WAS IN EASTERN COLORADO NEARING THE KANSAS BORDER. CONVECTION IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA HELPED SAP OFF SOME ENERGY DURING THE EVENING...WHICH COMBINED WITH DRY AIR WORKING ACROSS CENTRAL KANSAS TO END MUCH OF THE PRECIPITATION IN NORTHCENTRAL/NORTHEAST KANSAS. 00Z H500 ANALYSIS DIDNT SHOW A FAVORED MOVEMENT FOR THE UPPER LOW WITH 50+KT WINDS FROM THE WEST AROUND THE SOUTH TO THE EAST SIDE...HOWEVER WATER VAPOR IMAGERY BY 05Z WAS SHOWING A SOUTHWEST DRIFT WHICH WAS ALSO NOTED IN THE PROFILER FIELD. THIS IS THE SAME MOVEMENT ALL OF THE MODEL OUTPUT WAS ANTICIPATING. H500/700 ENERGY WORKING AROUND THE BASE OF THE UPPER LOW STARTED TRIGGERING THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA BETWEEN 04-05Z. THIS ENERGY WILL MOVE EAST/NORTHEAST AND COULD BE IMPACTING SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA BY 12Z. THIS SYSTEM WILL REINFORCE MID-LEVEL MOISTURE AND EFFECTIVELY END THE DRY SLOTS IMPACT. BELIEVE THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL WEAKEN INTO MAINLY SHOWERS WITH EMBEDDED THUNDER WHEN THEY REACH OUR AREA. THIS ENERGY WILL WRAP AROUND THE NORTH SIDE OF THE UPPER LOW AS IT MOVES TOWARD SOUTHEAST KANSAS BY 00Z THIS EVENING. THIS SHOULD AGAIN SLOWLY DRAG THE HEAVIER PRECIP FROM THE NORTHERN COUNTIES AROUND NOON TO THE SOUTHEAST DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. SEVERE WEATHER THREAT APPEARS QUITE LIMITED...WITH THE BEST AREA ACROSS THE EASTCENTRAL COUNTIES ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF H150 DIVERGENT FLOW. PRECIP SHOULD TAPER OFF SIGNIFICANTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT AS THE STACKED LOW SYSTEM MOVES ALONG THE MISSOURI-ARKANSAS BORDER BY 12Z FRIDAY. ETA/GFS BOTH SHOWING A PIECE OF ENERGY AROUND THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF THE LOW ON FRIDAY GETTING PINCHED BETWEEN THE LOW AND WEAK RIDGING. THIS CREATES A BAND OF MID-LEVEL MOISTURE THAT MAY BE SUFFICIENT TO HAVE A FEW SHOWERS OVER EASTERN COUNTIES IN THE MORNING AND POSSIBLY SOME SPRINKLES DURING THE DAY ACROSS THE AREA. AT THIS TIME DUE TO THE VARIABILITY...WILL IGNORE THE SPRINKLES AND ONLY CONTINUED CLOUDS PER GOING FORECAST. AREA SHOULD BE DRY FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY...HOWEVER 850-700 WARM AIR ADVECTION COULD CREATE SOME EARLY MORNING THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NORTHCENTRAL COUNTIES. BY SUNDAY MORNING A H500 LOW CENTER IS MOVING THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS. THE GFS STRONGER WITH THE INITIAL ENERGY THAN THE LATEST ETA...BUT BOTH DRIVE A COLD FRONT NEAR THE AREA BY 12Z SUNDAY SETTING UP ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS. BECAUSE OF STRONGER GFS...DECIDED TO KEEP SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR NORTH CENTRAL LATE SATURDAY NIGHT...AND CHANCE POPS OVER ENTIRE AREA SUNDAY AS FRONT MOVES ACROSS. WILL REMOVE PRECIP FROM SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY BASED ON NEW GFS BUILDING SURFACE HIGH IN QUICKER THAN EARLIER RUNS. WILL CONTINUE POPS MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT FROM EARLIER FORECAST. ROGERS .TOP...NONE.
KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-242300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 1138 AM CDT THU APR 24 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL...NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD REACH SEVERE LIMITS...ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70. LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS. FLOODING IS ALSO A POSSIBLILTY...ESPECIALLY ACROSS EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/TOP (ALL LOWER CASE) STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA.
The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:09 UTC.
4 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down and moved northeast a little over a quarter mile before dissipating. The tornado damaged or destroyed 6 out buildings at one farm and damaged a barn at another farm nearby.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2003Warnings in Kansas, April 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: 5346417, 5346418, 5346419, 5346420, 5346421.