1 ice storm, 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 Jan 16, 2:35 PM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KANSAS 235 PM CST THU JAN 15 2003 SNOW MAKER HAS MOVED EAST OF THE FORECAST AREA LEAVING CLEAR SKIES. SURFACE WINDS WONT GO LIGHT TONIGHT, BUT SPEEDS WILL HOLD 6-10 MOST OF THE NIGHT. THIS SHOULD HELP KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM FALLING BELOW ZERO OVER THE SNOW COVER, BUT STILL ALLOW LOWER SINGLE DIGITS. SURFACE RIDGE WILL MOVE OVER THE AREA ON FRIDAY ALLOWING NORTHWEST WINDS TO CONTINUE DECREASING AND BECOME SOUTHWEST OVER THE NORTHCENTRAL COUNTIES BY LATE AFTERNOON. A WEAK SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE UPPER PLAINS FRIDAY NIGHT WITH THE SOUTHERN TAIL INTO THE FORECAST AREA. THERE SHOULD BE A BRIEF PERIOD FOR SNOW FLURRIES DURING THE NIGHT AS MID-LEVEL MOISTURE INCREASES. SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH AND THE INCREASED CLOUDS WILL AGAIN KEEP SNOW IMPACTED TEMPERATURES FROM FALLING OFF TOO FAR, WITH LOWS FROM SINGLE DIGITS EXTREME NORTHEAST TO MID TEENS OVER THE SOUTHWEST COUNTIES. NORTHWEST WINDS SATURDAY BEHIND THE TROF WILL BE BRISK, BUT THE DOWNSLOPE COMPONENT WILL HELP PUSH TEMPERATURES 28 TO 33 FOR MUCH OF THE AREA. SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...NORTHWEST UPPER FLOW BECOMES WESTERLY BY MID-WEEK AS A SHORTWAVE TROF MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TUESDAY AND DIVES TO THE CENTRAL ROCKIES WEDNESDAY MORNING. AT THE SURFACE, A FRONT MOVES THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT BUT DOWNSLOPE FLOW SHOULD ACTUALLY PROVIDE ADDITIONAL WARMING MONDAY AS PRECIP AREAS REMAIN WELL TO THE NORTH. THE FLATTENING UPPER FLOW WILL ALLOW THE PRECIP TRACK TO MOVE CLOSER TO THE FORECAST AREA, BUT TIMING OF SIGNIFICANT WAVES HAS BEEN A PROBLEM LATELY. ALTHOUGH SOME RAIN/SNOW IS POSSIBLE ON WEDNESDAY, WILL LEAVE DRY FOR NOW SINCE THIS EVENT HAS ALREADY SHIFTED TIME FROM YESTERDAYS MODELS. ROGERS .TOP...NONE.
KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-171100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 315 PM CST THU JAN 16 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL, NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Icy roads caused the driver of a vehicle to lose control 1 mile east of Minneapolis. The vehicle rolled down the embankment and killed the female driver.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice Storm, Ottawa | 2003-01-16 | 47 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
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, January 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: 5339352.