8 tornado, 1 funnel cloud, 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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 14, 1:34 PM CST, 4 hours 56 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 234 PM CDT MON JUL 14 2003 SURFACE LOW PRESSURE NEAR KFSD AT MID AFTERNOON SHOULD TRACK INTO NW IA OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS BASED ON PRESSURE RISE/FALL COUPLET NW AND SE OF THE LOW. VERY UNSTABLE CONDITIONS EXIST OVER EASTERN NE AND WESTERN IA AND FAR SW MN. BELIEVE THIS IS WHERE MUCH OF THE ACTION WILL BE DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. ANOTHER AREA OF CONCERN WILL BE FAR NORTHERN MN IN THE VICINITY OF ANOTHER SURFACE LOW. A SURFACE TROUGH CONNECTS THESE TWO LOWS AND TEMPERATURES ARE REBOUNDING ACROSS WEST CENTRAL MN. EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO KEEP DEVELOPING FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING AHEAD OF THE TROUGH WITH MORE WIDESPREAD ACTIVITY CONTINUING OVER EASTERN MN AND WEST CENTRAL WI WHERE BETTER H8-H3 THICKNESS DIFFLUENCE IS INDICATED AND AMPLE H8-H7 THETA-E ADVECTION IS FORECAST. WILL HAVE CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE WESTERN CWA THIS EVENING WITH LIKELY POPS IN THE EAST. A COOL FRONT WILL THEN MOVE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. A COUPLE OF DRY AND PLEASANT DAYS ARE THEN IN THE OFFING FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. PATTERN BEGINS TO BECOME MORE CONFUSED LATER WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS A COOL FRONT DROPS SOUTH FROM CANADA. 12Z AVN HANGS THE FRONT UP ACROSS THE CWA BY FRIDAY MORNING AND WILL HAVE LOW CHANCE POPS WITH THE FRONT FOR SEVERAL DAYS. WILL KEEP THE WEEKEND DRY WITH ANOTHER CHANCE FOR RAIN MOVING BACK IN ON MONDAY. .MSP...NONE. RAH
MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-151100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 510 AM CDT MON JUL 14 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA...AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF SOUTHERN MINNESOTA TODAY INTO THIS EVENING. THE MODERATE RISK AREA IS LOCATED SOUTH OF A LINE FROM NEW ULM...TO THE TWIN CITIES AND NEAR EAU CLAIRE WISCONSIN. SURROUNDING THE MODERATE RISK IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE REMAINDER OF CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. A COLD FRONT AND LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO WESTERN MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN TONIGHT. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG THE FRONT AS IT SWEEPS EAST TODAY AND THIS EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT OF FROM THE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...BUT A TORNADO OR TWO CAN NOT BE RULED OUT...ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED DURING THE DAY AND THIS EVENING ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA INTO WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
0411 PM CDT MON JUL 14 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0355 PM ELROSA MN 1.00 IN HAIL
07/14/03 STEARNS
TDKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
0503 PM CDT MON JUL 14 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0500 PM 3 SE ST CLOUD MN 0.75 IN HAIL
07/14/03 SHERBURNE REPORTED AT ST CLOUD
AIRPORT BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR.
0448 PM 4 ESE ROCKVILLE MN 0.88 IN HAIL
07/14/03 STEARNS REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR.
0440 PM 5 SW ST JOSEPH MN 1.75 IN HAIL
07/14/03 STEARNS HAIL COVERED GROUND.
LEAVES STRIPPED. REPORTED
BY PUBLIC.
TDKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
0724 PM CDT MON JUL 14 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0716 PM SLEEPY EYE MN TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN
07/14/03 BROWN ONLY MOMENTARILY ACCORDING
TO TRAINED SPOTTER
AJZThe Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:28 UTC.
8 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado tore across corn fields and several groves of trees. Videotaped by storm chasers.
Brief touchdown in open field as videotaped by storm chaser. This tornado was from a different supercell than that which produced a tornado 6 W Searles at 1830. The supercell which spawned this tornado 1 N Searles went on to produce six more tornadoes: 5 in Blue Earth County and 1 in Waseca County.
The second tornado from a cyclic tornadic supercell touched down on the western edge of a farmstead. It snapped a dozen trees and demolished a barn and sheds. The roof of a house was peeled away and four vehicles were moved.
The third tornado in a series touched down in a corn field and trekked straight east. It caused minor house damage and knocked down several sheds and outbuildings, then moved across corn and bean fields before causing minor damage to a farmstead. It dissipated shortly after moving through the farmstead. Videotaped by storm chasers.
The fourth tornado in a series formed atop a bluff on the west side of the Le Sueur River valley, struck two homes down in the river valley, then moved back up the bluffs on the east side of the valley, where it snapped many trees and produced minor damage to some more houses, sheds and outbuildings. Videotaped by storm chasers.
The fifth tornado in a series touched down in a corn field, clipped a couple of storage buildings and a lawn care center, then moved across more fields and a meadow before dissipating.
The sixth tornado in a series was the last of five to hit Blue Earth County. This one took direct aim on four farmsteads. Barns, sheds and outbuildings were downed. A roof was taken off a house and numerous trees were snapped. Law Enforcement video showed this to be a multiple vortex tornado.
Captured on video by law enforcement, this was the seventh and last in a series of tornadoes produced by a cyclic tornadic supercell. It touched down briefly in an open field and dissipated before reaching the city of Janesville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Minnesota, 2003Warnings in Minnesota, 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: 5329686, 5329687, 5329754, 5329755, 5329756, 5329757, 5329758, 5329759, 5329760.