4 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 2:22 PM EST, 1 hour 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 222 PM EST SAT AUG 16 2003 COLD FRONT DROPPING SLOWLY SOUTH ACRS CENTRAL MI/WI THIS AFTN. DTX 18Z SOUNDING INDICATES COOLING ALOFT AND INCREASING UPPER LEVEL NWLY FLOW AS SHORT WAVE/JET MAX MOVES SE THROUGH UPPER GREAT LAKES. SCT SEVERE TSTMS OCCURRING JUST AHEAD OF FRONT IN SRN MI. WEAKER CONVECTION ALONG AN AOH-VPZ LINE APPEARS TO BE ON BOUNDARY INDUCED BY DIFFERENTIAL HEATING DOWNSTREAM OF LAKE MICHIGAN AND UNAFFECTED AREAS FARTHER SOUTH. LACK OF STRENGHTENING OF THIS ACTIVITY SUGGESTS AIRMASS OVER OUR AREA MAY STILL BE WEAKLY CAPPED. CAPPING SHOULD DIMINISH AS AFTERNOON PROGRESSES DUE TO MIXING AND COOLING ALOFT. WILL CONTINUE WITH MENTION OF DAMAGING WINDS IN STORMS AS IN CURRENT ZONES AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH SVR TSTM WATCH TIL 00Z. MODELS INDICATING A SECOND SHORT WAVE BEHIND FRONT WHICH IS INDICATED BY WATER VAPOR NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR. THIS SHOULD CAUSE FRONT TO MOVE THROUGH AREA A LITTLE SLOWER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT AND WILL EXTEND ENDING TIME OF SCT TSTMS UNTIL LATER TONIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVING SLOWLY SOUTH ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES SUNDAY-TUESDAY WILL PROVIDE FAIR WX WITH TEMPS NEAR NORMAL. COMPROMISED ON MOS HIGHS WITH LOWS AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW MOS WITH GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING EARLY IN THE WORK WEEK. JT EXTENDED DISCUSSION...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY MODELS HINTING AT SLOWER PROGRESS OF NEXT SYSTEM AS UPR LVL RIDGE TRIES TO REMAIN IN CONTROL OVER THE EAST COAST. CHC FOR PRECIP MAY BE BETTER THURS THAN WEDS...BUT WITH ABOVE TIMING ISSUES...WILL STICK WITH PERSISTENCE. DID BUMP UP TEMPS IN THE GRIDS FOR MOST OF THE PERIOD TO BLEND WITH SURROUNDING SITES AND HPC GUIDANCE. FISHER AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 18Z TAFS... INSTABILITY INCREASING ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION AHEAD OF THE ADVANCING COLD FRONT. EXACT COVERAGE/TIMING OF CONVECTION QUESTIONABLE RIGHT NOW WITH CU FIELD SLOWLY BEGINNING TO TAKE SHAPE. BEST DYNAMICS WILL MOVE IN FROM MID AFTN IN THE EVENING HOURS...SO WILL BACK OFF STARTING TIME FOR THUNDER AT BOTH SITES. WILL STICK WITH VCTS UNTIL CU FIELD AND CONVECTION GET BETTER ORGANIZED...THEN END THE THREAT AROUND 2 TO 3Z...BUT SOME MODEL GUIDANCE INDICATE THREAT COULD CONTINUE BEYOND THIS TIME FRAME. WILL KEEP DRY FOR NOW. FISHER .IWX... IN...NONE. MI...NONE. OH...NONE.
INZ003>009-012>018-020-022>027-032>034-MIZ077>081-OHZ001-002-004-005- 015-016-024-025-170945- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 500 AM EST SAT AUG 16 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHERN INDIANA...NORTHWEST OHIO AND SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER LOWER MICHIGAN...NORTHERN INDIANA AND NORTHWEST OHIO THIS AFTERNOON AND POSSIBLY CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE...WITH DAMAGING WINDS THE MOST LIKELY FORM OF SEVERE WEATHER. HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE WITH THE STORMS. THE STORMS WILL BE GENERATED AS A COLD FRONT AND MID LEVEL DISTURBANCE DROPPING ACROSS THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES INTO THE OHIO VALLEY ENCOUNTER A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS A MID LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND COLD FRONT SLIDE ACROSS THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/IWX BARJENBRUCH
The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:27 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous trees were reported down over the northern half of the county, with the heaviest concentration in the northwest.
A tree was reported down blocking a road.
Tree was blown down onto a house in the city. No damage estimates were available and no injuries were reported.
Measured by ASOS on site.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, August 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: 5377990, 5377987, 5377988, 5377989.