Hail, Rapides
- When
- March 12, 3:10 PM CST
- Where
- Rapides County, Pineville
- Measured
- 2.75 in hail
- Reported by
- UTILITY COMPANY
- Coordinates
- 31.317, -92.433
Hail in Louisiana, March 12, 2003
Baseball size hail broke car windows in the Pineville area.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS LCH wrote it up.
Baseball size hail broke car windows in the Pineville area.
What forecasters said that day
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 Mar 12, 12:45 PM CST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 12:45 PM CST, 2 hours 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 12:45 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003 .TONIGHT... A FEW EVENING SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. OTHERWISE, THE OVERNIGHT MINIMUMS WILL BE RUNNING ABOUT 10 F DEGREES ABOVE THE BENCHMARK NORMALS. ALSO, FOG WILL BE A PROBLEM. THE MESO-ETA COMPUTES A COASTAL FRONT FORMING OVERNIGHT. ACCUMULATING GULF MOISTURE WILL SUSTAIN AREAS OF FOG OVER THE COASTAL MARSHES AND I-10 PRAIRIES, PATCHY FOG FURTHER NORTH OVER THE LAKES AND PINEY HILLS REGIONS. .THURSDAY... THE MESO-ETA MODEL DEPICTS THE COASTAL FRONT ADVANCING NORTH AND STALLING OVER THE PINEY HILLS AND LAKES REGIONS. THIS INTERFACE WILL PERSIST INTO THE AFTERNOON HOURS. MEANWHILE, THE AVN MODEL COMPUTES SIGNIFICANT KINEMATIC AND QUASI -GEOSTROPHIC OMEGAS OVER THE AFORMENTIONED INTERFACE. SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS SEEM LIKELY. WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER AT 170 PERCENT OF NORMAL, I WILL INSERT RAIN HEAVY AT TIMES INTO PACKAGE. .THURSDAY NIGHT... SCATTERED EVENING SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. OTHERWISE, PATCHY RADIATION FOG, DENSE AT TIMES, WILL BE A PROBLEM. .LCH...NONE. .PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... AEX 58/79/56/78/55/79 263330 BPT 62/77/60/79/59/80 263320 LCH 61/77/59/80/58/80 263320 LFT 60/77/59/78/57/79 263330 TRARES
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 12, 4:00 AM CST, 11 hours 10 minutes before
LAZ027>033-041>045-051>055-TXZ180>182-201-215-216-131100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 400 AM CST WED MAR 12 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...CENTRAL... SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS...COMBINED WITH DAYTIME HEATING WILL PRODUCE SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. AT THIS TIME NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. LIGHT WINDS AND HIGH MOISTURE VALUES AT THE SURFACE WILL BRING THE CHANCE FOR FOG DURING THE OVERNIGHT. FOG MAY BECOME DENSE AT TIMES... ESPECIALLY NEAR THE COAST. .DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE WEATHER PATTERN IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE AT SOME GAUGE SITES. THOSE WITH INTERESTS NEAR AREA RIVERS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST FLOOD STATEMENTS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED. RUA
In the hours before
Local storm report, Mar 12, 3:05 PM CST, 5 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
305 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0302 PM ALEXANDRIA LA .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/03 RAPIDES HAIL COVERING THE GROUND
ABOUT 2 INCHES DEEP
FNThe radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in Washington, March 12 to 13, 2003
- Wildfire and High Wind in Alaska, March 12 to 14, 2003
- Flooding in Montana, March 12 to 13, 2003
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, March 12, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, March 12 to 13, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Alaska, March 12 to 13, 2003
- Hail in Missouri, March 12, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, March 12, 2003
- High Wind in Alaska, March 12 to 13, 2003
- Hail in Louisiana, March 12, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Mississippi, March 12, 2003
- Hail in Kansas, March 12, 2003
More
Every storm in Louisiana in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, March 2003
Sources
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: 5346360.