Name: Damaging Winds in Missouri, August 1, 2003
Start: 2003-08-01T17:25
End: 2003-08-01T17:31
Location: Missouri

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS LSX wrote it up.

Thunderstorm wind gusts caused scattered tree and power line damage in Fredericktown.

What forecasters said that day

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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 1, 2:25 PM CST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 1, 2:25 PM CST, 3 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
325 PM CDT FRI AUG 1 2003

.DISCUSSION...
OVERALL...NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE IN SHORT TERM MODELS WITH THE GENERAL
PATTERN ACROSS THE CENTRAL CONUS...BUT BOTH ETA/GFS HAVE PROBLEMS
WITH CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK OVER SRN 2/3RDS OF MO BOTH TONIGHT AND
SATURDAY EVENING.  PLAN ON USING A COMPROMISE OF ETA/GFS/NGM MASS
FIELDS...ACCOUNTING FOR THESE PROBLEMS...TO DETERMINE SENSIBLE
WEATHER FIELDS.

CURRENT THINKING IS THAT AREA OF PCPN OVR NRN AND CNTRL MO LIMITING
THE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AVAILABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER.  S OF
I-70...DAYTIME HEAT AND BOUNDARY ASSOCIATED WITH PCPN/CLOUD SHIELD
IS SETTING UP BOUNDARY THAT HAS TRIGGERED SVR TSRA IN THE LAST
HOUR.  BEST MID LEVEL Q-VECTOR CONVERGENCE/0-6KM SHEAR IS STAYING N
OF THIS AREA ATTM FAVORING THE POTENTIAL OF SVR MULTICELL
CLUSTERS/BOWS.  AS THIS BOUNDARY MOVES FARTHER S TONIGHT...SRN MO
INCLUDING FAR SRN PART OF CWA WILL HAVE HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT FROM
MCS THAT WILL MOVE ACROSS SRN MO/NRN AR LATE TONIGHT.

OTHERWISE...KEPT CHC PCPN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AS SERIES OF SHORTWAVE
THROUGHS MOVES THROUGH PERSISTENT NWLY FLOW.  USED A BLEND ON
GUIDANCE FOR TEMPERATURES NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.

IN THE EXTENDED...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SHOWING GOOD AGREEMENT WITH
PERSISTENT WRN CONUS RIDGE AND ERN TROF.  HAVE SOME ISOLD/SCT
CONVECTION IN THE NERN 1/2 ON MONDAY BASED ON PROXIMITY OF UPR LOW
AND ASSOCIATED COLD POOL.  ALSO HAVE SCT TSRA LATE MON NIGHT/TUE
MORN OVR WRN 1/3RD OF CWA FOR MCS DEVELOPMENT. OTHERWISE...WENT DRY
WED THRU FRI AS 500MB HEIGHTS SLOWLY INCREASE.  GENERALLY FOLLOWED
THE MRF ENSEMBLE MOS GUIDANCE FOR TEMPS.

&&

.LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
.MO...NONE.
.IL...NONE.

BRITT

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 1, 8:15 AM CST, 9 hours 10 minutes before

ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027-
034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-021100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
915 AM CDT FRI AUG 1 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN MISSOURI
AND WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THE RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO A MODERATE
RISK FOR THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON.
THESE STORMS WILL DEVELOP QUICKLY AND MOVE SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE
AREA.  THE PRIMARY SEVERE THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING
WINDS.  LARGE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE STORMS.
WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE IS POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

THERE WILL BE CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY MORNING GENERALLY
SOUTH AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 55 IN ILLINOIS AND INTERSTATE 44 IN
MISSOURI. THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR THE
AFTERNOON ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND PARTS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.
MORE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE TUESDAY...PRIMARILY ACROSS
SOUTHERN MISSOURI.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA
THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT...
HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/LSX (ALL LOWER CASE)

PEDIGO

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Madison

When: August 1, 5:25 PM CST
Where: Madison County, Fredericktown
Measured: 55 kt (63 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.550, -90.300

Thunderstorm Wind, Madison

When: August 1, 5:31 PM CST
Where: Madison County, Fredericktown
Measured: 55 kt (63 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.550, -90.300

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Missouri in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, August 2003

Sources

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: 5377675, 5377676.