1 lightning, 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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 9, 1:35 PM CST, 5 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 235 PM CDT FRI MAY 8 2003 STRATUS WDSPRD OVR SE SD AND SW MN WITH MORE BREAKS ACRS NW IA. WUD EXPECT SKES ACRS SRN CWA TO BECOME PC DURING THE EVENING AS SUN GOES DONE WITH LESS INSTABIL. WITH LESS CLDS TEMPS MAY FALL A LTL LOWER THAN FCST. LATE TONIGHT...NEXT SYS WL BEGIN TO SPREAD CLDS BACK INTO SRN CWA. SOME LGT RAIN MAY MAKE IT AS FAR N AS MO RIVR BY MORN. LATEST AVN AND ETA FURTHER S...AND FEEL BEST CHC FOR R- WL BE ACRS SERN CWA ON SAT. CURRENT FCST SEEMS TO HANDLE THIS WELL AND WLL NOT DIVERGE TOO MUCH. SHUD BE CHILLY WITH CLDS AND PRECIP. RAIN WL LINGER DURING THE EVENING ERN CWA SAT NITE...AND CLD COVER WL HOLD TEMPS UP. LOW REALLY BEGINS TO DEEPEN OVR THE GRT LAKES LATE SAT NITE INTO SUN...SO SUN SHUD BE WINDY AND COLD WITH A FEW AFTN RW- WITH CYC FLOW ALOFT. BREAK ON MON WITH TEMPS STILL BELO NORM. NEXT S/W TUES NITE INTO WED WL BRING ANOTHER CHC OF RW. HWVR...WITH WAVE IN NW FLOW...MOISTURE WL BE LIMITED AND WL ONLY GO CHC RW-. FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE WLY THU AND FRI...SO TEMPS SHUD REBOUND NICELY. .FSD...NONE
SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098-IAZ001>003- 012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-101200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 1121 AM CDT FRI MAY 09 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY STRONG WINDS...IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH...IS POSSIBLE LATE SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...AS STRONG LOW PRESSURE IS SITUATED OVER THE SOUTHERN GREAT LAKES AND HIGH PRESSURE MOVES INTO THE WESTERN PLAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:58 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a large tree, destroying the tree. The lightning also damaged appliances in at least two homes, and caused a power outage over a small area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, 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: 5357024.