m. T.
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 episode as NWS GRR wrote it up.
A F1 tornado struck Calhoun county between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m. E.S.T. on July 20th, 2003. The tornado first touched down just west of Wattles road on Crosby road on the southeast side of Battle Creek. Several trees were uprooted or broken off. The tornado lifted for several miles but touched down again near Twelve Mile road and A Drive south. It stayed on the ground for approximately three miles and intensified, causing a garage to be torn from a house and an older farm house to be rotated and pushed off it's foundation. Three outbuildings and a barn were also destroyed. Some shingle damage was also noted to other houses in the area. Hundreds of trees were uprooted or broken off. The tornado path was eight miles long from where it first touched down to where it lifted for the last time. The tornado width was nearly one half mile wide where the most severe damage occurred. It was rated as a F1 on the Fujita scale, with wind speeds of 90 to 100 m.p.h. A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids at 12:54 p.m. EST.
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 Grand Rapids, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 20, 9:20 AM EST, 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 1020 AM EDT SUN JUL 20 2003 KGRR-88D SHOWS SHRA/TSRA CONTINUING TO DEVELOP OVER THE LAKE AND MOVE EAST...MAINLY NORTH OF MKG...HOWEVER THERE HAS BEEN A SLIGHT SWD DEVELOPMENT DURING THE PAST FEW VOLUME SCANS. THIS IS IN AN AREA OF LOW LVL CONVERGENCE AND HIGHER THETE AIR. WOULD EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE TO SINK SOUTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON. DEVELOPING WARM FRONT OVER NRN ILLINOIS WILL ALSO BE A FOCUS FOR TSTM DEVELOPMENT LATER THIS AFTERNOON. VIS LOOP STILL SHOWS QUITE A BIT OF CLOUD-FREE SKY ACROSS THE CWA. THIS WILL HELP IN DESTABILIZING THE ATM LATER THIS AFTERNOON. WILL KEEP THE LIKELY POPS GOING BUT WILL ALSO MENTION PT SUNNY SKIES. 93 .GRR...NONE.
MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-211000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 605 AM EDT SUN JUL 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS SOUTH OF A LINE FROM LUDINGTON TO ALMA FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT AS A STORM SYSTEM TAKES SHAPE ACROSS THE MIDWEST. A SQUALL LINE MAY FORM ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS OR SOUTHERN WISCONSIN AND MOVE EAST INTO SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN DURING THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON MONDAY MORNING AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES EAST. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON SATURDAY AS ANOTHER COLD FRONT APPROACHES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. OSTUNO
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:14 UTC.
11 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees were blown down by severe thunderstorm wind gusts in Scottville.
A report of one and three quarters inch diameter hail was received from Hudsonville. Three quarters inch diameter hail was reported in Jenison.
Two inch diameter hail was reported in Hudsonville. This was the largest hail report received across our area for this event.
Three quarters inch diameter hail was reported in Byron Center.
Numerous reports of hail were received from Middleville, including one report of one inch diameter hail 3.5 miles south Middleville off M-37.
Numerous trees were blown down approximately four miles southwest of Hastings.
Numerous sixteen inch diameter trees were blown down north of Wayland.
A F1 tornado struck Calhoun county.
A report of one inch diameter hail was received in Lowell.
One inch diameter hail was reported in Clarksville. One tree was blown down two miles south of Saranac.
One and one half inch diameter hail was reported with a severe thunderstorm in Woodland.
A report of one inch diameter hail was received from Eaton Rapids.
Law enforcement in Jackson reported that several trees and power lines were blown down.
Three quarters inch hail was reported in Muskegon.
One and one half inch diameter hail was reported five miles north of Marshall.
Three quarters inch diameter hail was reported six miles southeast of White Cloud, and hail briefly covered the ground there.
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, 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: 5378699, 5378696, 5378698, 5378697, 5378700, 5378592, 5378701, 5379680, 5378691, 5378690, 5378692, 5378693, 5378702, 5378694, 5378695, 5379679.