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 New Orleans, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 1, 8:55 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS/BATON ROUGE LA 955 PM CDT FRI AUG 1 2003 RADAR LOOPS SHOW NEARLY ALL THE CONVECTION DISSIPATING OVER LAND WITH JUST A FEW RECENTLY DEVELOPED SHOWERS IN THE COASTAL WATERS SOUTH OF PASCAGOULA. LEFTOVER CIRRUS CLOUDS IN SATELLITE LOOP SHOW A VERY WELL DEFINED DEFORMATION PATTERN OVER THE AREA WHICH AIDED IN THE SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. PRECIPITABLE WATER READINGS REMAIN AROUND 2 INCHES...BUT THE MODELS INSIST DRIER AIR WILL FILTER IN FROM THE NORTH LATE TONIGHT AND SATURDAY. WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING...WILL DROP MENTION OF RAIN TONIGHT ACROSS THE INLAND ZONES...BUT WILL MAINTAIN ISOLATED WORDING SOUTH OF LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AND ALONG THE COAST WHERE DEEPER MOISTURE WILL LINGER MUCH OF THE NIGHT. UPDATES WILL BE OUT SHORTLY. UPDATED FIRST PERIOD NUMBERS... MCB 72/92/73/91 0214 BTR 74/92/75/91 -214 MSY 77/91/77/90 1314 GPT 75/90/76/89 1314 .NEW...NONE LA...NONE. MS...NONE. 22
LAZ034>040-046>050-056>070-MSZ068>071-077-080>082-021130- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 1010 PM CDT FRI AUG 1 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST AND COASTAL MISSISSIPPI. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED MAINLY IN COASTAL SECTIONS OVERNIGHT. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED IN THE COASTAL WATERS OVERNIGHT. A FEW OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND WIND GUSTS OF 20 TO 25 MPH. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS OVER LAND EACH DAY WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER MARINE AREAS. ORGANIZED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS...IS NOT REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. 22
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:43 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning ignited a fire of a tank containing 350,000 barrels of crude oil at an oil refinery .
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, August 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: 5377181.