A small tornado touched down in a mobile home park, destroying four trailers. One trailer was lifted 75 yards in the air, and landed on top of a telephone pole.
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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 episode as NWS LCH wrote it up.
A small tornado touched down in a mobile home park, destroying four trailers. One trailer was lifted 75 yards in the air, and landed on top of a telephone pole. Only one trailer was occupied during the storm. That tenant received a broken arm and numerous cuts and bruises when her trailer flipped upside down and landed on a neighboring trailer.
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 Lake Charles, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 15, 9:53 AM CST, 2 hours 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 953 AM CST SAT FEB 15 2003 .THIS AFTERNOON... The morning sounding depicts a saturated neutral lapse through most of the air column. The precipitation heating from the ongoing rains has reduced the instability for now. Also the freezing level is rather high at 11 hundred feet. Hail seems less likely. I used the AWIPS algorithm to compute a surface based latent energy (CAPE) of 1000 J per kg...using a maximum temperature of 71 deg F. All the typical severe weather indices (SWEAT/TOTAL TOTALS) are marginal at best...using my forecast maximum temperature. Also shear is rather limited...with lower troposphere helicity at 900 J per kg. The helicity magnitude should increase with approach of front. Stability appears to be the limiting factor for now. Heavy rainfall seems more likely. The current manual QPF depicts a rainwater axis extending from Lumberton to Fort Polk...continuing northeast and east. Between one and two inches of rain is possible near this axis...with lesser amounts elsewhere. The AWIPS algorithm computes 1.5 inches of precipitable water (which is 225 percent of normal) from the morning sounding. The AVN guidance computes significant quasi-geostrophic omega...which travels into the pre-frontal air of the Lakes Region near noon...and travels into the pre-frontal air of the Piney Hills Region of central Louisiana in the mid afternoon. Because significant omega is forecast within the pre-frontal air...I will retain the heavy rain inclusion in the zone package. I will tone down the mention of severe weather. .LCH...NONE. .PREVAILING NUMBERS... AEX 70/44 52/33 56/34 +6 00 00 BPT 71/45 55/36 58/39 +5 00 00 LCH 71/46 55/36 58/38 +5 00 00 LFT 73/48 55/36 57/37 +7 00 00 Trares
LAZ027>033-041>045-051>055-TXZ180>182-201-215-216-161100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 420 AM CST SAT FEB 15 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...CENTRAL... SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... A STORM SYSTEM WILL BE MOVING OUT OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. A VERY WARM AND MOIST AIRMASS IS IN PLACE AND SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THROUGHOUT TODAY INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH RAINFALL AMOUNTS AVERAGING 1 INCH. SOME LOCATIONS THAT SEE THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS MAY RECEIVE 2 OR MORE INCHES OF RAINFALL. THESE RAINFALL AMOUNTS MAY CAUSE THE CALCASIEU RIVER AT GLENMORA TO GO ABOVE FLOOD STAGE. ALSO...STREET FLOODING WILL BE POSSIBLE IN AREAS THAT RECEIVE THE HEAVY RAINFALL. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE...ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING. THE MAIN CONCERN WILL BE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS. .DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO THE REGION WITH FAIR CONDITIONS THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE NEXT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY AS ANOTHER SYSTEM FROM THE WEST MOVES TOWARD THE AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED TODAY AND INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. RUA
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:01 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Louisiana, 2003Warnings in Louisiana, February 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: 5344180.