1 heavy rain, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 Aug 28, 2:05 PM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KANSAS 305 PM CDT THU AUG 28 2003 FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE PRECIP CHANCES/SEVERITY/AMOUNTS EARLY ON AND PRECIP TRENDS AND TEMPERATURES INTO THE WEEKEND. 12Z UPPER AIR MAPS SHOWED WESTERN END OF NORTH AMERICAN WESTERLIES HAD PUSHED SOUTH IN THE NORTHERN ROCKIES OVER RECENT DAYS WITH WEAK DIFFLUENCE ALONG THE KS/NE BORDER. MAIN UPPER WAVE IN THE CONUS AT 500MB WAS DIPPING SOUTH INTO MONTANA WITH ONE SHORTWAVE OVER WESTERN KANSAS AND AT LEAST TWO MORE ON TO THE SOUTHWEST. 700MB TEMPS REMAIN AROUND 10C. MOISTURE IN THE 500-850MB LEVEL REMAINS HIGH WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES AROUND 2 INCHES. 850MB FRONT WAS PUSHING INTO NEBRASKA WHILE 19Z SURFACE MAP HAD FRONT FROM NEAR OMA TO HYS TO SPD WITH TROF FROM HYS TO NEAR AMA. ISENTROPIC LIFT IN THE 310 THROUGH 320K LEVELS HAS KEPT SCATTERED CONVECTION GOING IN THE NORTHERN ZONES INTO THE AFTERNOON WITH SCATTERED STORMS DEVELOPING ALONG THE TROF AND IN THE MID 90S OVER 70F AIR IN SOUTHEAST/EAST CENTRAL KS. PREVIOUS/ONGOING STORMS TO KEEP SITUATION A BIT MUDDLED EARLY ON. OLD OUTFLOW BOUNDARY ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN ZONES MAY BE A BOUNDARY TO WATCH OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS WHERE TIGHT BAROCLINICITY HAS FORMED. SEVERE POTENTIAL SHOULD BE LIMITED TO AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY WHERE CAPES ARE AROUND 3000 J/KG. PULSE EVENTS STILL SEEM THE PRIMARY MODE GIVEN LACK OF STRONG MID LEVEL WINDS AND THE DEEP MOISTURE. PRESSURE TENDENCIES NEAR THE FRONT SUGGEST MODELS ARE ONTO THE EXPECTED SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE FRONT THROUGH THE CWA TONIGHT. TRAINING STORMS STILL SEEM LIKELY WITH WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT AND MORE ZONAL FRONTAL ORIENTATION. GIVEN VERY DRY GROUND CONDITIONS...WON/T GET OUT OF HAND WITH ANY TYPE WATCH BUT WILL MENTION HEAVY RAIN IN THE ZONES/GRIDDED OUTPUT. PRECIPITATION SHOULD SLOWLY PUSH SOUTH LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON AS DRIER AIR SEEPS IN BEHIND ON COOL NORTHEASTERLY WINDS. GOING TEMPS SEEM PRETTY GOOD AND HAVE ONLY TWEAKED HERE AND THERE. UPSLOPE WINDS DO RAISE A FLAG ON RESIDUAL PRECIP CHANCES INTO SATURDAY BUT THINK LACK OF MOISTURE SHOULD KEEP ALL BUT THE SOUTHERN ZONES DRY. ETA TRIES TO BRING AN MCV NORTHEAST OUT OF TEXAS INTO THE AREA BUT THIS LOOKS SUSPECT. SUNDAY AGAIN LOOKS COOL AS THE AIRMASS BEGINS TO MODIFY. ONLY SOME MINOR CHANGES IN THE EXTENDED TODAY. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH COOL HIGH PRESSURE SLOWLY WORKING EAST THROUGH THE MIDWEST WITH SOUTHERLY FLOW RETURNING AROUND TUESDAY. WEAK UPPER TROF OFF THE WEST COAST THIS MORNING PROGGED TO PASS THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS LATE MONDAY BUT LOOKS TOO WEAK AND TOO FAR NORTH TO BRING PRECIP HERE AT THIS POINT. TEMPERATURES LOOK TO BE AT TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL...PARTICULARLY EARLY ON. .TOP...NONE. 65
KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-291100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 352 PM CDT THU AUG 28 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL...NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...ESPECIALLY THIS EVENING. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT WITH CHANCES LIMITED TO EAST CENTRAL KANSAS SATURDAY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED THIS TONIGHT. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/TOP (ALL LOWER CASE)
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Runoff from 3 to 4.5 inches of rain caused low water crossings to become impassable for a time around Garnett.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, August 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: 5368810.