1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 5, 1:45 PM EST, 7 hours 5 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 245 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 2003 ...UPPER TROF REMAINS IN PLACE... LATEST H2O VAPOR LOOKS ALMOST THE SAME AS LATE LAST WEEK ALBEIT MORE OF A NEGATIVE TILT TODAY. DOUBLE BARREL LOW CONFIGURATION HAS EVOLVED WITH THE OHIO LOW CLOSE TO OUR VICINITY ABLE TO ADVECT IN MOISTURE FROM THE EAST. A SMALL REGION OF NVA WAS NOTED ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER INTO THE EASTERN U.P. HOWEVER LAKE BREEZE BOUNDARIES HAVE AIDED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...ALONG WITH DIFFERENTIAL HEATING BOUNDARIES...WHICH WILL LIKELY SUBSIDE EARLY THIS EVENING. OTHERWISE...ANOTHER POTENT LITTLE WAVE OVER IOWA IS A BIT FURTHER NORTH THAN MODELS WOULD SUGGEST...BUT AS THIS WAVE BECOMES ENTRENCHED IN THE DEEPER NORTHWEST FLOW...IT SHOULD BEGIN TO SHEAR OUT AND BE SOUTH OF THE STATE. MODELS ARE VERY PERSISTENT AND SO IS THIS FORECAST. UPPER TROF REMAINS IN OUR FORECAST AREA WITH AVAILABLE BOUNDARIES TO FOCUS CONVECTION. MODEL SOUNDINGS FOR WEDNESDAY SO CAPES OVER 1K WITH SFC BASED LI/S -3C TO -5C. WIND FIELD IS A BIT MORE NORTHERLY BUT RELATIVELY WEAK IN THE LOWER LEVELS FOR ADDITIONAL LAKE BREEZE DEVELOPMENT. THE COMPLICATION WILL BE WITH A REGION ON NVA ON THE NORTHERN PURIFY OF THIS WAVE PASSING BY TO OUR SOUTH. SOME CONVECTION UNDER THIS NVA REGION WAS ABLE TO FIRE ALONG THE WESTERN LAKE SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN THIS AFTERNOON AND WOULD EXPECT THE SAME HERE AS WELL. TIMING OF INDIVIDUAL WAVES IN A NEARLY DATA-VOID REGION WILL REMAIN THE ISSUE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. THEREFORE WE WILL CONTINUE WITH THE IDEA OF DIURNAL CONVECTION THROUGH FRIDAY AND OVERNIGHT FOG...ESPECIALLY WHERE PRECIP OCCURS AND NEAR OPEN WATERS. LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD... ENSEMBLE MEANS INCLUDING THE ECMWF/GLOBAL CANADIAN/ETAXX KEEP HANGING ON TO THIS TROF THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. INDIVIDUAL SHORT WAVES ARE DIFFICULTY TO ASCERTAIN BUT WITH THE CLOSE PROXIMITY OF THIS...WE WILL ADD IN A SMALL CHANCE FOR FRIDAY. AS WE HEAD INTO THE WEEKEND...BROAD RIDGING MOVES INTO THE GREAT LAKES TO PROVIDE A DRY WEEKEND (HOPEFULLY). REASON FOR THE SLIGHT UNCERTAINTY IS DUE TO THE AMPLIFYING RIDGE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC. IF THIS DOES CONTINUE...WE MAY HAVE TO ADJUST THE GRIDS SLIGHTLY BUT FOR NOW WE WILL LEAVE THE WEEKEND DRY AND A BIT COOLER THAN NORMAL. .DTX...NONE. BGM EXPERIMENTAL GRAPHICAL FORECASTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DTX (ALL LOWER CASE)
MIZ047>049-053>055-060>063-068>070-075-076-082-083-061100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 1119 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AFTER 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE THROUGH 9 PM THIS EVENING FOR ALL OF SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. HOWEVER...DUE TO THE COLD AIR ALOFT...A PHENOMENON KNOWN AS COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS ARE USUALLY SHORT-LIVED AND CAN DEVELOP FROM RELATIVELY SMALL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM WHEN THE AIR ALOFT IS VERY COLD. COLD AIR FUNNELS MAY TOUCH DOWN BRIEFLY...BUT IN GENERAL ARE LESS VIOLENT THAN MOST OTHER TYPES OF TORNADOES. A FEW STORMS COULD PRODUCE HAIL UP TO PEA SIZE AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. STORMS WILL DRIFT SLOWLY SOUTHEAST AROUND 10 MPH. DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESE STORMS...SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE. THIS MAY CREATE PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS. A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE PERSISTING ACROSS SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AND THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES REGION WILL CREEP SLIGHTLY EAST THROUGH TONIGHT. DAYTIME HEATING WILL CREATE MODEST INSTABILITY THIS AFTERNOON...WHICH WILL CARRY OVER INTO THIS EVENING AND RESULT IN SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AS THE BROAD LOW PRESSURE AREA CONTINUES SLOWLY EAST. ISOLATED STORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. AT THIS TIME...ANY THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && 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) CONSIDINE
The Detroit radar (KDTX), 8 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:51 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the Oxford Village Dispatch Center's 110-foot tower causing widespread equipment failure and damage.
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: 5368621.