1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 20, 2:50 PM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 350 PM CDT WED AUG 20 2003 .DISCUSSION... MAIN CHALLENGES FOR THIS PACKAGE DEALS WITH WHAT TO WITH EXISTING HEAT HEADLINES AND PRECIP CHANCES ASSOCIATED WITH FRONT MOVING THROUGH MO/IL THURSDAY NIGHT. MODELS SHOWING GENERAL AGREEMENT THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD...SO USED A BLEND. WILL UPGRADE TO A HEAT WARNING IN EXISTING ADVISORY AREA AND ISSUED HEAT ADVISORY IN S CNTRL IL THROUGH THURSDAY. MAY SEE A FEW MORE CLOUDS ACROSS THE AREA TOMORROW...BUT 850MB TEMPS WILL STILL BE IN THE LOW 20S C WITH W-SWLY LOW LEVEL FLOW SHOULD STILL YIELD SFC TEMPS IN THE MID 90S. MODELS STILL KEEPING DEWPOINTS IN THE LOW-MID 90S...YIELDING HEAT INDEX VALUES AOA 105F FOR A FEW AREAS TOMORROW...SO THIS WILL BE THE 3RD CONSECUTIVE DAY OR LONGER ELEVATING THE HEALTH RISK ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA. REGIONAL RADARS SHOWING RAPID TSRA DEVELOPMENT OVER ERN MO AND SW IA IN AREA OF WEAK LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE COINCIDING WITH VERY UNSTABLE/LOW CINH ATMOSPHERE. SOME WEAK UPWARD MOTION AHEAD OF SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER MID MO RIVER VALLEY WILL AID IN THIS DEVELOPMENT...SO HAVE SCT TSRA GOING THROUGHOUT THE EVENING OVER WRN 2/3RDS OF AREA. OTHERWISE...WILL KEEP CHANCE OF TSRA GOING WITH FRONTAL BOUNDARY MOVING SLOWING THROUGH AREA ON THURSDAY NIGHT/EARLY FRIDAY AS SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES THROUGH AREA. MID-UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT IS PRETTY MEAGER...SO KEPT COVERAGE SCT. IN THE EXTENDED...STRONG WESTERLIES ARE PUSHED BACK NORTHWARD EARLY NEXT WEEK LEAVING AREA WARM AND DRY. && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .MO...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING THROUGH THURSDAY .IL...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING FOR SW AND W CNTRL IL...AND HEAT ADVISORY FOR S CNTRL IL THROUGH THURSDAY BRITT
ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027- 034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-211200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED FOR SLIGHT CHANCE SEVERE STORMS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 1240 AM CDT WED AUG 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN MISSOURI AND WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A HEAT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT TODAY OVER ALMOST THE ENTIRE REGION... GENERALLY WEST OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES NORTHEAST OF ST LOUIS SOUTHWARD TO 70 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ST LOUIS. MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL BE IN THE MIDDLE 90S NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER UPWARD TO 100 DEGREES ACROSS CENTRAL MISSOURI. ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES COMBINED WITH VERY HUMID CONDITIONS WILL PRODUCE DANGEROUSLY HIGH HEAT INDICES OF AROUND 105 TO 110 DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE CITY OF ST LOUIS AS TEMPERATURES AND HEAT INDICES COULD BE SLIGHTLY HIGHER THROUGHOUT THE URBAN AREAS IN AND AROUND THE METRO ST LOUIS AREA. THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...MAINLY NORTH AND WEST OF ST LOUIS. HOWEVER...THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT RISK THAT SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. ISOLATED STORMS COULD PRODUCE A BRIEF PERIOD OF HAIL ...HOWEVER THE MAIN THREAT WILL DUE TO STRONG OR POSSIBLY DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES SLOWLY SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE REGION. WHILE WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED ALONG THIS FRONT... ISOLATED STORMS MAY PRODUCE A BRIEF PERIOD OF HAIL OR STRONG WIND GUSTS. .SPOTTER ACTIVATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT... HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/LSX (ALL LOWER CASE) PEDIGO
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:44 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Brief thunderstorm wind gusts around 70 mph downed some trees and power lines in the west part of Jefferson City. One vehicle was damaged by a downed tree. About 300 customers lost electric service for up to four hours because of the damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, 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: 5377309.