Isolated thunderstorms with high wind and hail moved through South Central Maryland during the afternoon of the 18th. In Calvert County, trees and wires were downed in Huntingtown.
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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 LWX wrote it up.
Isolated thunderstorms with high wind and hail moved through South Central Maryland during the afternoon of the 18th. In Calvert County, trees and wires were downed in Huntingtown. Pea sized hail was also reported. In Prince George's County, several trees were downed in the Tall Oaks and Pointer Ridge communities of southern Bowie. Pea to marble sized hail also fell in Bowie.
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 Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 18, 1:40 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 240 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 .SHORT TERM...TNGT AND TMRW... LLVL MOISTURE MADE A QUICK RETURN TO THE AREA TODAY. OBSERVED CAPES ALREADY EXCEEDING 2000 J/KG IN AREAS TO THE S OF THE MID LVL CLOUD SHIELD. ADDITIONAL TSRA DEVELOPING CLOSER TO THE SFC CDFNT NW OF THE AREA OVER WRN PA/ERN OH. PRIND THERE WL BE TWO AREAS OF CONCERN THIS EVE. OVER THE SE 1/3 OF THE CWA...ISOLD SVR WX REMAINS POSSIBLE WITH LARGE INSTABILITIES AND UNIDIRECTIONAL WIND FIELD. ACROSS THE NW...SHEAR IS MORE FAVORABLE FOR ORGANIZED CONVECTION...BUT INSTABILITY IS LOWER. WITH SLOW MOVMT OF THE CDFNT TO THE S...TRAINING AND HVY RAFL WL BE A CONCERN. ATTM...CONFIDENCE IN ANYTHING MORE THAN ISOLD FLDG IS NOT HIGH...SO WL NOT ISSUE AN FFA ATTM...BUT CONT TO MONITOR. WL LINGER POPS THRU MIDNGHT...AND CONT WITH SLGT CHC POPS OVNGT FOR ANY RESIDUAL SHRA/TSRA. WEAK CAA DOMINATES FOR MUCH OF THE DAY...BUT AS WV DEVELOPS ALG THE CDFNT...IT HANGS UP JUST TO THE SOUTH OF THE ARE. THIS MAY CAUSE A FEW TSRA OVR SRN ZNS...AND WL MAINTAIN CHC POPS TO THE S. MANNING .LONG TERM SAT NGT THRU FRI... PERIOD BEGINS WITH FNT STILL HANGING ALG OUR SRN BORDER AT 00Z SUN. GFS SHOWS A WAVE ALG THE BOUNDARY OVR SRN VA. ETA IS MUCH FURTHER S AND W AND IS DRIER. LIKE THE GFS A LTL BETTER...AND THIS MATCHES UP WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES A LTL MORE SMOOTHLY. WILL KEEP LOW CHC POPS IN FOR SAT EVENING LWR SRN MD. FNT CONTS AWAY FROM AREA...AND BY SUNDAY...THINGS LOOK BENIGN. LOW MEAN RH AND WEAK SFC HI IN CTRL. WILL GO MSUNNY SUNDAY. AIRMASS CONTS TO LOOK DRY INTO MON...ESPECIALLY THE GFS SOLN. WEAK DISTURBANCE PASSES TO OUR N. DOESNT APPEAR TO BE ENOUGH MOISTURE DRG DAY FOR POPS...SO WILL CONT TO FORGO MENTION OF PCPN. EVEN WITH THE ETA BEING MUCH FASTER WITH PRE FRONTAL MOISTURE...DOESNT APPEAR ANYTHING WOULD GET IN BEFORE SUNSET. WONT MESS WITH PCPN TIMING FOR TUE. BUT LATEST GFS SHOWS A LATER ARRIVAL WITH BEST SURGE TUE NGT INTO WED. FNT...ONCE IN...HANGS UP JUST TO OUR E INTO THU. BEST MOISTURE IS ALG AND E OF THE FNT...SO WILL CONT TO KEEP FCST DRY THU. FNT WILL BE EVEN FURTHER E FRI AND MEAN RH VALUES LOW. SFC HI FCST TO BE CENTERED OVR WRN PA BY DAYS END. NO BIG PROBS WITH GUIDANCE TEMPS...WILL FOLLOW CLOSELY. RDH .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE. MARINE...NONE.
DCZ001-MDZ002>007-009>011-013-014-016>018-VAZ021-025>031-036>042- 050>057-WVZ048>055-191100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 1100 AM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MARYLAND WEST OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND EAST OF GARRETT COUNTY...THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA...NORTHERN VIRGINIA...THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY...AND THE EASTERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS INDICATED THAT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON WOULD BE DAMAGING WINDS...BUT LARGE HAIL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...WHICH COULD LEAD TO ISOLATED FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATER TODAY. MANNING
DCZ001-MDZ002>007-009>011-013-014-016>018-VAZ021-025>031-036>042- 050>057-WVZ048>055-190200- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 1106 AM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OKLAHOMA HAS INDICATED THAT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY...ACROSS MARYLAND...THE EASTERN WEST VIRGINIA PANHANDLE...THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE AND BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS...AND POSSIBLY SOME LARGE HAIL. HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO A CONCERN TODAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOVING VERY SLOWLY...AND WITH INCREASING MOISTURE...WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL. THIS COULD LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. THE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DIMINISH AND MOVE TO THE SOUTHEAST OF THE AREA BY EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. MANNING
VAZ039-050-051-181915- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 240 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHERN MADISON COUNTY... AT 240 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER ROCHELLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH. THIS STORM WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH. THE COMMUNITIES OF CULPEPER...MADISON AND ORANGE WILL BE AFFECTED BY THIS STORM THROUGH 315 PM EDT. RESIDENTS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT IN CASE WARNINGS ARE ISSUED. MMARGRAF
VAZ051-181930- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 251 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER CULPEPER COUNTY... AT 251 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER CULPEPER...MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH. THIS STORM WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH. COMMUNITIES IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PORTION OF CULPEPER COUNTY WILL BE AFFECTED BY THIS STORM THROUGH 330 PM EDT. RESIDENTS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT IN CASE WARNINGS ARE ISSUED. MMARGRAF
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:39 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees were downed in the south part of town.
Trees and wires were downed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Maryland in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Maryland, July 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: 5368825, 5368826.