1 cold/wind chill, 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 Mar 3, 11:15 AM EST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 1115 AM EST MON MAR 3 2003 UPSTREAM RADAR IMAGERY AND SURFACE OBS SHOW WIDESPREAD SNOW ACROSS WESTERN AND CENTRAL WISCONSIN. THIS SNOW HAS DEVELOPED WITHIN A REGION OF STRONG WARM AIR ADVECTION FROM THE SURFACE TO 700MB AHEAD OF SURFACE LOW IN WESTERN MINNESOTA. SNOWFALL IS GETTING SOME ADDED LIFT VIA LEFT EXIT REGION OF 110KT 300MB JET NOW MOVING INTO IOWA. THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST...REACHING WESTERN UPPER MI BY THIS EVENING...WHILE LIFT FROM THE WARM AIR ADVECTION PATTERN AND UPPER DIVERGENCE MOVES EAST INTO LOWER MICHIGAN...GENERALLY AFTER 21Z THIS AFTERNOON. THE 12Z MESO ETA AND CURRENT RUC INDICATE DRY AIR FROM THE SURFACE TO 900MB WILL DELAY THE ONSET OF THE SNOWFALL OVER SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN UNTIL AROUND 00Z. THE 12Z KDTX SOUNDING CERTAINLY CONFIRMED THIS DRY AIR WITH 900MB DEW POINT DEPRESSIONS AROUND 19 DEG C. 850MB MOISTURE ADVECTION IS HOWEVER QUITE STRONG THIS AFTERNOON...WITH CONDENSATION PRESSURE DEFICITS ON THE 285K ISENTROPIC SURFACE FALLING TO 30MB BY 21Z ACROSS THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA. THUS...I WILL CARRY A CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER 4 PM ALONG AND WEST OF AN ADRIAN TO BAD AXE LINE. SOUNDINGS STILL INDICATE THE COLUMN MOISTENING BETWEEN 00Z AND 03Z THIS EVENING. CATEGORICAL SNOWFALL WITH 3 INCH OR LESS ACCUMULATIONS STILL LOOK ON TARGET FOR TONIGHT. CURRENT FORECAST HIGHS OF MID TO UPPER TEENS LOOK GOOD. TEMPERATURES WILL MAKE A GRADUAL RECOVERY TODAY. MAX TEMPS FOR THE DAY WILL LIKELY OCCUR TOWARD MIDNIGHT THOUGH UNDER THE STEADY WARM AIR ADVECTION. .DTX...NONE. CONSIDINE EXPERIMENTAL GRAPHICAL FORECASTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DTX (ALL LOWER CASE)
MIZ047>049-053>055-060>063-068>070-075-076-082-083-041100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 510 AM EST MON MAR 3 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT RECORD COLD TEMPERATURES THIS MORNING...2 BELOW TO 12 BELOW ZERO. TEMPERATURES WILL CLIMB ABOVE ZERO BY MID MORNING...AND TO AROUND 10 DEGREES TOWARD NOON. SNOW THIS EVENING...TAPERING OFF TO SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS OVERNIGHT. A GENERAL 1 TO 2 INCH SNOWFALL CAN BE EXPECTED...EXCEPT UP TO THREE INCHES SOUTH OF M 59. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY MORE SNOW LIKELY TUESDAY NIGHT...POSSIBLY PRODUCING ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER SNOWFALL REPORTS ARE REQUESTED TONIGHT. && 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 national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
An 86-year old woman died from Hypothermia after wandering away from a nursing home in Livonia.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold/Wind Chill, Wayne | 2003-03-03 | 86 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
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, March 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: 5345927.