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 9, 2:10 AM EST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 210 AM EST SUN MAR 9 2003 LOW CLOUDS HAVE SCOURED OUT NICELY ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST LOWER IN STRONG SUBSIDENCE BEHIND ARCTIC BOUNDARY. SHOULD SEE SOME SUN THIS MORNING BUT CLOUDS TO RETURN THIS AFTERNOON AS VORTICITY SHEAR AXIS MOVES ACROSS THE CWA. THIS UPPER WAVE IS CURRENTLY OVER CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WILL AFFECT MOST OF THE CWA BY 18Z. MODEL SOUNDINGS SHOW INVERSION HEIGHTS RISING TO 5K FEET AND MOIST LAYER DEEPENING TO NEARLY 5K AS WELL IN ASSOCIATED OMEGA FIELD. THIS WILL INCLUDE LOW POP SNOW SHOWER WORDING FOR ENTIRE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. COULD BE SOME LINGERING FLURRIES OVERNIGHT AS A SECOND WAVE MOVES ACROSS THE CWA...SHOULD BE CONFINED TO JUST FLURRIES AFTER 00Z WITH LOSS OF DIURNAL COMPONENT. AS CLOUDS RETURN BY AFTERNOON...TEMPERATURES WILL STRUGGLE AS WELL...THUS WILL LEAN TOWARD THE COLDER AVN GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES...ALL GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES ALREADY RUNNING SEVERAL DEGREES TO WARM IN ARCTIC AIRMASS. MODELS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT THROUGH 84 HOURS. HOWEVER THE AVN IS STRONGER WITH NORTHERN GREAT LAKES LOW ON TUESDAY. AVN MODEL APPEARS TO HAVE INITIALIZED THIS LOW BETTER THAN THE ETA...WITH THE LOW CURRENTLY APPROACHING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND VERY IMPRESSIVE ON IR LOOP. THE AVN SOLUTION WOULD ALSO SUGGEST A STRONGER WIND FIELD OVER LOWER MICHIGAN ON TUESDAY...AS WELL AS BETTER DEFINED THETA-E RIDGE AXIS. WILL BUMP POPS UP TO HIGH CHANCE CATEGORY...MIXED PRECIPITATION ALSO POSSIBLE ACROSS FAR SOUTH. FLURRIES SHOULD DEPART ON MONDAY MORNING AS 850 MB THERMAL TROF MOVES EAST OF THE CWA AND WEAK WARM AIR ADVECTION BEGINS. WILL FOLLOW AVN GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES CLOSELY FOR SUNDAY NIGHT...AS TEMPERATURE NOT AS LIKELY TO CRATER WITH SOME LAKE CLOUD INTO CWA UNTIL AFTER THERMAL TROF PASSAGE. .DTX...NONE. GSS EXPERIMENTAL GRAPHICAL FORECASTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DTX (ALL LOWER CASE)
MIZ047>049-053>055-060>063-068>070-075-076-082-083-101200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 500 AM EST SUN MAR 9 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY GALE FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY ON LAKE HURON. PLEASE REFER TO THE OPEN LAKE FORECAST FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .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) BGM
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
A 74-year old man wandered out of a retirement home in Westland and died of Hypothermia.
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 | 2003-03-09 | 74 | Male | 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: 5345928.