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 8, 1:15 PM EST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 215 PM EDT FRI AUG 8 2003 ...CONTINUED SHRA CHCS REMAIN BIGGEST HEADACHE... MAINLY AFTN/EVE SHRAS/ISOLATED TSRAS WILL CONTINUE TO HEADLINE THE FCST INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. UPPER TROFFING REMAINS IN PLACE ACROSS THE EASTERN CONUS...W/ CWA IN CYCLONIC NW FLOW. SEE NO REASON TO DEVIATE MUCH FROM PERSISTENCE YET AS THIS PATTERN HOLDS. WILL CARRY SLIGHT CHC SHRAS SAT/SUN AFTN/EVE WITH A BETTER CHC AT PRECIP BY MONDAY/MONDAY EVE AS A WELL DEFINED WAVE/ASSOCD SFC FRONT DROPS THRU CWA. HARD TO MAKE THE CALL FOR TUE AS UPPER TROFFING IS SLOW TO MOVE OUT OF AREA...BUT SFC HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN RATHER QUICKLY FROM THE NW. GIVEN PERSISTENCE OF PATTERN...AM INCLINED TO EXTEND SCT POPS INTO THE TUE AFTN/EVE TIMEFRAME AS WELL. THEREAFTER...UPPER PATTERN IS STILL FORECAST TO CHANGE...AS UPPER RIDGE BUILDS RATHER QUICKLY INTO THE AREA. CURRENT FCST HAS SHRA/TSRA CHC ON THU NIGHT/FRI...AND WILL BE PONDERING WHETHER TO KEEP THIS OR NOT. CURRENT INDICATIONS ARE THAT RIDGE SHOULD BE FIRMLY IN PLACE BY THIS TIME SO WILL MOST LIKELY PULL THOSE POPS. AS FOR TEMPS...EXPECT HIGHS TO CONTINUE IN THE UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S INTO TUE OR WED...AND THEN START A STEADY WARMING TREND LATE NEXT WEEK. LOWS IN THE MID/UPPER 50S NW...TO LOWER 60S SE. VERY LITTLE SPREAD IN GUIDANCE NUMBER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...SO PLAN LITTLE IN THE WAY OF CHANGES INTO THE WEEKEND. CURRENT FORECAST NEED VERY LITTLE CHANGING...OTHER THAN TWEEKING TEMPS UP HEADING INTO MID/LATE NEXT WEEK. IN THE SHORTTERM...KDTX 88D SHOWS A PRETTY NICE AREA OF SCT SHRAS AND PERHAPS A TSRA OR TWO...SPREADING FROM THE SAGINAW VALLEY AND THUMB...THRU THE REST OF SOUTHERN LOWER MI. WL MONITOR THIS ACTIVITY BEFORE DECIDING EXACT WORDING FOR THIS EVENING...BUT WILL BASICALLY HAVE ISOLATED SHRAS NRN AREAS IN BEHIND WAVE THAT IS DRIVING THESE SHOWERS...AND SCATTERED SHRAS/ISOLATED TSRAS SOUTH AS THIS AREA MOVES THRU REST OF CWA (INTO SBCAPES AOA 1000 J/KG). THE QUESTION TURNS TO DEGREE OF STRATUS REFORMATION OVERNIGHT...IF ANY. ETA DRIES BOUNDARY LAYER OUT QUITE A BIT BEHIND AFOREMENTIONED WAVE/SHRAS... WITH CONSENSATION PRESSURE DEFICITS HIGHER THAN LAST FEW NIGHTS. HWVR...NORTH WINDS REMAIN RATHER LIGHT AFTER DECOUPLING AGAIN TONIGHT. CURRENT SHRAS WILL ALSO HELP ADD MOISTURE INTO THE MIX. GIVEN THE LAST FEW NIGHTS...WILL CARRY PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES THRU MIDNIGHT...THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY OVERNIGHT...WITH PATCHY FOG. CONFIDENCE IN ALL THIS IS SOMEWHAT LOW...WITH VARIOUS FACTORS POINTING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. .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>070-075-076-082-083-091100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 250 PM EDT FRI AUG 8 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR SOUTH OF I 69 THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. NONE OF THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. THE STORMS WILL SLOWLY TRACK SOUTH AT 10 TO 15 MPH. DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL OCCUR WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS...WHICH MAY LEAD TO THE PONDING OF WATER ON AREA ROADS. IN ADDITION...THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH...ALONG WITH SMALL HAIL. ALL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL END BY MID EVENING...AS WE LOSE THE DAYTIME HEATING AND THE BEST MOISTURE SLIDES SOUTH OF THE STATE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY AFTERNOON AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. .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) SF
The Detroit radar (KDTX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:18 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck Trojan Cleaners on Main Street. The building caught fire and burned to the ground.
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: 5368704.