4 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 May 5, 2:30 PM EST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 330 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 STILL WAITING TO SEE IF CONVECTION FIRES IN THE DRY SLOT. IF IT DOES...COULD SEE SVR WX DEVELOP RATHER QUICKLY GIVEN THAT THE SURFACE WARM FRONT IS NOW ALONG THE I-96 CORRIDOR AND THE LIFTED INDEX IS NOW -5 TO -8 SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT. CURRENTLY THERE IS AN AREA OF ENHANCED CUMULUS DEVELOPMENT ALONG A LAKE BREEZE FRONT THAT RUNS FROM WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE TRIPLE POINT NEAR GRR... SW TOWARD SBN. ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...A VORTICITY MAXIMA IS SEEN MOVING NORTHEAST FROM THE MKE/CHICAGO AREA. THIS COULD ACT TO GET CONVECTION GOING SOON SO WILL CONTINUE A CHC POP FOR SHWRS/TSTMS THIS EVENING... THEN GO DRY LATER ON WITH LOSS OF SFC HEATING. ON TUESDAY...ATMOSPHERE LOOKS TOO DRY TO SUPPORT ANY CONVECTION SO WILL REMOVE CHC POPS. HOWEVER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE PROGS SUGGEST FAIRLY EXTENSIVE STRATOCU LINGERING IN THE NRN THIRD OF THE CWFA SO WILL GO MOSTLY CLOUDY THERE. THINKING PTLY TO MSTLY SUNNY IN THE SOUTH. SHOULD BE A WARM DAY IN SRN SECTIONS WITH H8 TEMPS AROUND 10C. WILL GO NEAR FWC MOS IN THE LOW TO MID 70S SE SECTIONS...BUT WEST WINDS OFF LK MI WILL KEEP WRN SECTIONS COOLER. LATER PERIODS OF THE SHORT TERM LOOK PRETTY UNEVENTFUL WITH LOTS OF DRY AIR AROUND. THERE ARE SOME WEAK SHORTWAVES PROGGED TO SLIDE THROUGH THE FAST FLOW ALOFT BUT THE DRY AIR SHOULD PRECLUDE ANY ORGANIZED PCPN EVENTS. CANNOT TOTALLY RULE OUT SOME ISOLATED SHOWER/TSTM ACTIVITY...PARTICULARLY IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT AT THIS POINT WILL LEAVE THAT MENTION OUT OF THE FCST. THE SURFACE GRADIENT BECOMES QUITE WEAK AND MAY RESULT IN SOME PATCHY FOG TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AND LAKE BREEZE DEVELOPMENT ON WEDNESDAY. OTHERWISE SEASONAL SPRING WX EXPECTED WITH GENERALLY PARTY CLOUDY CONDITIONS. MEADE EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION... NOT MANY CHANGES MADE TO THE GOING EXTENDED FORECAST AS MOST MODELS ARE FAIRLY CLOSE AND HAVE BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT FOR THE LAST FEW RUNS. IT STILL LOOKS LIKE THU SHOULD END UP STAYING DRY WITH HIGH PRESSURE TO OUR NORTH AND A RIDGE EXTENDING SOUTH OVER THE STATE INTO OH. THE RIDGE HOLDS A FRONT TO OUR SOUTH ON THU KEEPING PCPN OUT OF THE AREA. THE 12Z GFS BRINGS PCPN OVER THE STATE THU AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT IT IS THE ONLY SOLUTION THAT DOES SO...SO WILL KEEP THU DRY. THE HIGH WEAKENS ENOUGH TO ALLOW THE FRONT TO MOVE CLOSER TO THE STATE ON FRI. I WILL KEEP THE CHC OF SHOWERS IN AND WILL ADD SOME THUNDER TO THE EXTREME SE CWA AS LI/S FALL TO NEAR ZERO THERE. THE FRI SYSTEM SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE AREA FOR SAT...BRINGING DRY AND MILD CONDITIONS TO THE AREA ONCE AGAIN. THE NEXT WEATHER MAKER FOR THE AREA IS A DECENT UPPER LOW OUT WEST THAT BEGINS TO MOVE OVER THE AREA. WAA SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE DURING THE DAY ON SUN AHEAD OF A FRONT. THIS AREA MOVES NORTH AND EAST OF THE AREA ALLOWING A COLD FRONT TO MAKE ITS WAY INTO THE STATE DURING THE DAY ON MON. WITH THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AROUND THE AREA...WILL GO WITH A CHC OF SHRA AND TSRA FOR NEXT MON. NJJ .GRR...NONE.
MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-061000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 1158 AM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER EXISTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN... PARTICULARLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 96. DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS OF 60 MPH OR GREATER AND HAIL OF THREE QUARTER INCH IN DIAMETER OR GREATER ARE POSSIBLE. ISOLATED TORNADOES CANNOT BE RULED OUT EITHER. THE BEST THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE BETWEEN 2 PM AND 9 PM. INDIVIDUAL STORM MOVEMENT WILL BE TO THE NORTHEAST AT AROUND 25 MPH. A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT NORTH INTO SOUTHERN MICHIGAN THIS AFTERNOON... REACHING NEAR INTERSTATE 96 BY 4 PM. PARTLY SUNNY SKIES WILL DEVELOP SOUTH OF THIS FRONT...CREATING UNSTABLE CONDITIONS. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHING FROM THE WEST MAY TRIGGER THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...AND ANY STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP ALONG OR SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF BECOMING QUICKLY SEVERE. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH AFTER SUNSET. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. ADDITIONAL SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR TUESDAY AFTERNOON AS LOW PRESSURE SLOWLY APPROACHES LOWER MICHIGAN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. MEADE
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:21 UTC.
4 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
One inch diameter hail was reported with a severe thunderstorm in De Witt.
A 60 m.p.h. thunderstorm wind gust was reported in Marshall.
Seven eighths inch diameter hail was reported in De Witt.
A report of three quarters inch hail was received in Holt. Three quarters inch hail was also reported in Williamston, where at one point hail also covered the ground.
Large hail up to one inch in diameter was reported in Holt, where a few windshields were also shattered by the hail. Three quarters inch hail was reported two to four miles east of Williamston.
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, May 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: 5356755, 5357039, 5357040, 5357041, 5357042.