1 flash flood, 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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 4, 2:23 AM EST, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 323 AM EDT THU SEP 4 2003 SFC FNT APPEARS TO HAVE MOVED TO JUST THRU PIT/CVG/EVV/MEM. RADAR HAS THE PCPN AHEAD OF FNT BY ABOUT 100SM. NOT MUCH LEFT OF TS GRACE BUT THE CNTR LOOKS TO BE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN TYS AND TRI. ONLY TS FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF HRS SEEMS TO BE COMING OVER THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU IN TN. STILL SHRA HANGING ON IN THE SERN 2/3 OF CWFA. FAIRLY TIGHT GRADIENT TO THE PCPN BUT FEEL THERE WILL BE MVMT TODAY...JUST NOT AS FAST AS PREVIOUS THOUGHT. WILL CARRY LIKELY POPS FOR SERN ZONES WITH ONLY SLGHT CHC CNTRL TAPERING TO NO POP NW. MODELS SEEM TO BE ALL OVER THE PLACE TODAY AND SHOW LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN ANY SOLUTION. ETA THE MOST CONSISTENT AND WITH THIS ALSO BEING RELATIVE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FEEL IT IS THE BEST MODEL TO START WITH. STILL THERE WILL HAVE TO BE SOME TWEAKING. MODEL AGREES THAT WE SHOULD SEE SEVERAL DRY DAYS FROM THE WEEKEND THRU AT LEAST NEXT WED. COOLER FRI HIGHS THEN GRADUAL WARMING. FOG WILL BE A PROBLEM FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. CLAY SOIL WILL KEEP BNDRY LAYER SATURATED OVERNIGHT AND WITH CLEARING SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS THE FOG SHOULD KEEP OUR VALLEYS SHROUDED. WOULD ALSO EXPECT TO DEVELOP A RIDGE VALLEY SPLIT BY THE WEEKEND FOR OVERNIGHT LOWS. .JKL...NONE DUSTY ------------------------------------------------------------------- PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS FOLLOW: -------------------------------------------------------------- 943 PM EDT WED SEP 3 2003 REMAINS OF GRACE TRACKING SLOWLY EASTWARD ACROSS TN VALLEY GIVING THE REGION ITS LAST ROUND OF PRECIPITATION. WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS IN NORTHERN CWA...AREAS OF SHOWERS AND AN OCCASIONAL THUNDERSHOWER IN SOUTHERN CWA. RADAR TREND SHOWS BRIEF LOCALIZED INCREASES IN INTENSITY AND A SLIGHT INCREASE IN COVERAGE TO SOUTH. COLD FRONT IN MIDWEST JUST SOUTH AND EAST OF AN ORD-PIA-MCI LINE MOVING SOUTHEAST...SHOWING UP WELL ON SATELLITE. MODELS INDICATE SOME ENHANCEMENT OF PRECIP FOR THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ACROSS SE HALF OF CWA. ONLY REASONS I COULD FIND FOR EARLY MORNING ENHANCEMENT OF PRECIP OTHER THAN SFC TROUGH THAT WAS GRACE IS THAT THE AREA FALLS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF RR JET BETWEEN NOW AND 12Z...PROVIDING A LITTLE UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE. IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE THAT THERE WILL BE SOME INFLUENCE FROM APPROACHING MIDWEST COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY. MODELS SHOW THIS COLD FRONT PUSHING THROUGH EASTERN KY BY TOMORROW MORNING...CARRYING ANY LEFTOVER SHOWER ACTIVITY OUT OF THE REGION. THEREAFTER DRIER...COOLER AIR FILTERS IN FOR A HINT OF EARLY FALL WEATHER. FOR THE LAST PART OF THIS WEEK EXPECT TO SEE RIDGE VALLEY SPLIT TO BECOME AN ISSUE ALONG WITH MORNING FOG WITH MUCH DRYER AIR MOVING ACROSS WELL SATURATED BOUNDARY LAYER. FORECAST APPEARS TO HAVE THINGS HANDLED WELL. ONLY UPDATE WILL BE TO LOWER POPS IN THE NORTHWEST ZONES. WILL LEAVE POPS IN SOUTHERN ZONES ALONE. RAY -------------------------------------------------------------------- 332 PM EDT WED SEP 3 2003 IN THE SHORT TERM... MAJOR CHANGES TO THE ZONES WERE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. POPULATED WITH THE USUAL META VALUES...WHICH WERE OFF A BIT...ADJUSTED FOR THAT. THERE WERE SOME CHANGES TO THE POPS AND SKY COVER IN THE SHORT TERM...BUT ONLY ON TIMING AS FAR AS FINE TUNING OF THE TIMING OF OUR BIG DRY OUT. I DECIDED TO LEAN TOWARD THE AVN AS FAR AS THE CLOUD COVER...AND THUS POPS GOES THROUGH THE PERIOD. SEEMED TO REPRESENT THE SURFACE FEATURES A BIT BETTER EARLY...AND SAW NO REASON TO DEVIATE WITH TIME. LONG TERM... LOOKS AS THOUGH WE WILL STAY DRY THROUGH MOST OF THE PERIOD...WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SOME RAIN COME WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AS SUGGESTED BY THE MRF. THOUGHT THAT THE AVN WAS PROBABLY PLAYING IT A BIT TOO DRY...ESPECIALLY FROM TOMORROW THROUGH THE TERMINATION OF RUN...SO KEPT A BIT MORE CLOUD COVER THAN MAYBE WAS SUGGESTED. COREY -------------------------------------------------------------------- 115 PM EDT WED SEP 3 2003 UPDATED ZONES TO CLEAN UP AFTERNOON WORDING. LEFT POPS ON THE HIGH SIDE AS INCREASING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS DEVELOPING TO THE WEST...WITH AN ORIENTATION OF POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE TRAINING PRECIPITATION. LOWERED TEMPS IN FIRST PERIOD A TAD. HEINLEIN
KYZ044-050>052-058>060-068-069-079-080-083>088-104-106>120-041200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 1034 PM EDT WED SEP 3 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...OVERNIGHT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT...WITH THE BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS BEING IN THE TENNESSEE AND VIRGINIA BORDER COUNTIES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS LINGERING IN THE SOUTHEAST COUNTIES ON THURSDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. JP
The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:59 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Highway 687 was flooded for a seven to ten mile stretch, with several areas at least three feet deep. Several cars were partially submerged, ruining the engines. Several roads were also underwater in Manchester.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, 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: 5375092.