7 tornado, 7 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 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 9, 2:30 AM CST, 12 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 330 AM CDT WED JUL 9 2003 MCSS EXTENDING FROM ERN SD INTO IA ARE SUPPORTED BY AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG UPPER TROUGH...NOW IN WRN ND. LARGE SCALE ASCENT SHOULD SUPPORT WIDESPREAD RAIN OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THE MODELS DEVELOPING ESPECIALLY IMPRESSIVE QG FORCING OVER CENTRAL MN TODAY. THERE IS A RISK OF HEAVIER RAIN IN SOUTH CENTRAL MN DUE TO LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND ELEVATED INSTABILITY IN SRN MN...ALTHOUGH BEST POTENTIAL SEEMS SOUTHEAST OF THE FORECAST AREA. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE QUITE COOL TODAY WITH CLOUD COVER AND RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY IN WRN ZONES. THE MODELS DIFFER ON THE TIMING OF THE SYSTEM OUT OF THE STATE TONIGHT. THE ETA SEEMS TO BE MORE CONSISTENT IN THIS PERIOD AND WOULD HAVE PRECIPITATION EAST OF THE AREA BY 12Z THURSDAY. THE FORECAST WILL CONTINUE A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN ERN ZONES ON THURSDAY WITH FORECAST STEEP LAPSE RATES AND A SECONDARY SHORT WAVE TROUGH IN NWRLY FLOW. SCOTT
MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-101100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 105 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA...AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA INTO WEST WISCONSIN AS A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH PUSHES ACROSS THE REGION. BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL AND SMALL HAIL WILL ACCOMPANY SOME OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS...HOWEVER MOST STORMS WILL REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LIMITS. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL BE IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA CLOSER TO A SURFACE WARM FRONT IN IOWA. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER RISK IN THIS AREA WOULD BE LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MBK
The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 170 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:32 UTC.
7 tornado, 7 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado tore across open fields and a few groves of trees, then dissipated just before entering the city of Chokio.
Brief touchdown in an open field.
Tornado ripped across open fields as well as several groves of trees. It brushed one farmstead southwest of Danvers, damaging a grain bin.
Few trees down.
Brief touchdown in open field.
Brief touchdown in a bean field.
A multiple vortex tornado touched down west of Pennock near a turkey farm, which was severely damaged. 200 to 300 turkeys were killed. The tornado then tracked straight east through the city of Pennock, knocking down trees and causing some damage to houses, including partially removing the roof from one home. A large storage building was destroyed in Pennock, as were several sheds and a garage. Just east of Pennock, it took direct aim on a house, lifting off its roof and blowing a shed into a nearby field. Another garage nearby had its roof removed. A strong rear flank downdraft accompanied the tornado, producing wind damage from just east of Pennock to Willmar (see corresponding entry).
A strong rear flank downdraft accompanied the Pennock tornado (see corresponding entry). Several trees were felled, bleachers at an athletic complex were destroyed, a grain bin collapsed onto a Bobcat, and a sign at the Kandi Mall was knocked down.
Brief touchdown on the extreme eastern edge of town, near the intersection of Kraus Street and Blue Earth Street. Several trees were damaged. The storm which produced this tornado also produced widespread strong wind damage throughout central and western sections of Lake Crystal (see corresponding entry).
Based on the NWS damage survey, the vast majority of damage in Lake Crystal this day was due to strong thunderstorm winds, rather than the brief tornado that also touched down (see corresponding entry). Dozens of trees were toppled, some snapped. Many trees fell on sheds, homes and vehicles.
Several trees down in the south side of town.
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: 5334503, 5334512, 5329761, 5334504, 5334505, 5329762, 5329769, 5334506, 5329763, 5334509, 5334507, 5334508, 5334510, 5334511, 5329764, 5329765, 5329766, 5329767, 5329768.