1 tornado, 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 Detroit, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 4, 1:00 PM EST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 200 PM EDT MON AUG 4 2003 ...DIMINISHING SHRA/TSRA CHCS REMAIN MAIN FORECAST CHALLEGE... 12Z UAA HAD STACKED LOW FINALLY RIGHT OVER LOWER MICHIGAN. COLD POOL HAS MODERATED GRADUALLY OVER THE PAST SVRL DAYS...NOW IN THE -12C AREA WITH A -13C IN SRN OH WITH MAIN VORT/TSRA ACTIVITY IN AREA. SFC CHART SHOWS A DIFFUSE PATTERN WITH WEAK TROF EXTENDING THRU FROM THE THUMB INTO SW LOWER. STRATUS/FOG PREVALENT TO THE NORTH OF THIS BOUNDARY THIS MORNING. THIS IS SLOWLY DISSIPATING/LIFTING INTO SCT CU. BEST CU DEVELOPMENT SO FAR IS OVER NRN THUMB WHERE WEAK MESOSCALE VORT IS TEAMING UP WITH LAKE BREEZE CONVERGENCE TO POP A FEW SHRAS. WEAK SYNOPTIC BOUNDARY IS MOST ACTIVE FROM FAR SOUTHERN CWA INTO NW OH & NRN IN WHERE SBCAPES ARE PUSHING 2000 J/KG AT NOON...AND SOME WEAK LIFT FROM UPPER WV IS HELPING OUT. THIS SHOULD FIRE INTO SHRAS/TSRAS BY 1 PM...WITH AREAS FURTHER NORTH LAGGING JUST A BIT. AS OF 2 PM... SCT SHRAS/TSRAS HAVE INDEED FIRED FROM SRN CWA INTO NRN OH VALLEY. EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO CONT TO SPREAD NORTH AND INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND ALSO...TO A LESSER DEGREE...IN INTENSITY. W/ WEAK WIND FIELDS IN PLACE...MAIN CONCERN WITH THESE CELLS IS LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. A FEW NEAR SEVERE HAIL REPORTS WOULD NOT BE A SURPRISE EITHER...BEING IN THE COLD CORE WITH RELATIVELY LOW 0C/-20C HGHTS AND WBZ PRETTY CLOSE TO 10K. WILL MONITOR HOW WIDESPREAD CONVECTION BECOMES THIS AFTN. PLAN ON WORDING SCT/NUMEROUS INTO THE EVENING HOURS...WITH JUST ISOLATED SHRAS OVERNIGHT AS UPPER VORT LIFTS NE NEAR CWA. WITH WEAK SURFACE PATTERN REMAINING IN PLACE...AND ADDITIONAL MOISTURE FROM SCT RAIN THIS AFTN/EVE...AND A SLIGHTLY COOLER FLOW...EXPECT FOG TO FORM AGAIN TONIGHT. CURRENT FCST HAS THAT WELL IN HAND. FOUS SUPPORTS MORE FOR TOMR NIGHT/WED AM...AND SEE LITTLE REASON TO DOUBT THAT GIVEN LITTLE CHANGE IN OVERALL SETUP. WILL ADD PATCHY FOG ATT. BASICALLY NO CHANGE TO FCST AS MEAN UPPER TROF REMAINS IN PLACE THRU THE ERN CONUS. SCT AFTN/EVE CONVECTION THRU THU STILL SEEMS A DECENT BET. CONTINUED INPUT OF UPPER ENERGY KEEPS UPPER LOW IN PLACE IN ONTARIO/QUEBEC...WITH A TENDENCY TO STRENGTHEN IT A BIT LATER THIS WEEK...INTO THE WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES WILL BE VERY PERSISTENT...AND WILL JUST TREND THEM UP EVER SO SLOWLY THRU THE REST OF THE WEEK...STARTING FROM THE UPPER 70S ON TUE. WILL EDGE THEM DONE A TOUCH INTO THE WEEKEND AS COOLER AIR GRADUALLY DROPS INTO AREA ON NW FLOW BEHIND UPPER LOWS. THAT SAID...FORECAST IS BASICALLY ONE OF PERSISTENCE. SHRA CHCS ARE SOMEWHAT PROBLEMATIC INTO THE WEEKEND. WILL LEAVE FORECAST DRY FROM FRIDAY ON FOR NOW...BUT CONTINUED INFLUENCE OF THE UPPER LOW AND WAVES DROPPING THRU AREA ON NW FLOW NEED TO BE WATCHED. IN GENERAL...CWA SHOULD REMAIN DRY AS DEEPER LLVL MOISTURE WILL BE WELL EAST OF AREA BY THEN...AND UPPER LOW WILL BE A FAIR DISTANCE INTO CANADA. PCPN CHCS WOULD RELY ON WEAK WAVES & ASSOCD SFC FRONTS FOCUSING SCT SHRAS AS THEY DROP THRU NW FLOW. .DTX...NONE. GURNEY EXPERIMENTAL GRAPHICAL FORECASTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DTX (ALL LOWER CASE)
MIZ047>049-053>055-060>063-068>070-075-076-082-083-051100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 415 PM EDT MON AUG 4 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR SOUTH OF M59 THROUGH THIS EVENING. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE AND PRODUCE PENNY SIZE HAIL. HOWEVER...THE MAIN HAZARD WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL THAT WILL ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS AND MAY PRODUCE URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL SLOWLY TRACK TO THE NORTHEAST BETWEEN 10 AND 15 MPH. ACTIVITY WILL SLOWLY DISSIPATE THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. NORTH OF M59...A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING OF WHICH NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. FOR THE OVERNIGHT HOURS EXPECT PATCHY FOG TO DEVELOP WITH VISIBILITIES BEING REDUCED TO LESS THAN ONE MILE. WHERE RAINFALL HAS OCCURRED AND NEAR THE LAKE SHORES...FOG MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN ONE HALF MILE. A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER LOWER MICHIGAN WILL SLOWLY WORK ITS WAY EAST OVER THE STATE THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF MORE THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AND AGAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AS BROAD LOW PRESSURE VERY SLOWLY RETREATS OFF TO THE EAST. AT THIS TIME...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... DISPATCHERS...PLEASE NOTIFY YOUR EMERGENCY MANAGERS. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THROUGH THIS EVENING. && STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS...FOR THE LATEST FORECAST INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. YOU CAN ALSO OBTAIN THE LATEST FORECAST ON THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DTX/ (ALL LOWER CASE) BGM
The Detroit radar (KDTX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:42 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A cold air funnel briefly touched down on 25th street. The tornado moved a garage 2 feet and destroyed 2 sheds.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Michigan, 2003Warnings 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: 5368354.