1 flash flood, 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 Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 1, 12:24 AM CST, 9 hours 36 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 124 AM CDT MON SEP 1 2003 .DISCUSSION... REGIONAL RADAR COMPOSITE LOOKS LIKE A BROKEN RECORD OF LAST TWO NIGHTS...WITH PERSISTENT TRAINING OF LIGHT-MODERATE RAINS OVER WESTERN THIRD OF THE CWA...AND LITTLE ACTIVITY ELSEWHERE. HOWEVER...WE NOW HAVE THE ADDITIONAL OF A LARGE SHIELD OF RAINFALL ASSOCIATED WITH T.D. GRACE PRESENTLY MOVING NORTHWEST ACROSS OKLAHOMA. FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A SUBJECTIVE SURFACE ANALYSIS AND SATELLITE IMAGERY...EX-GRACE HAS EVOLVED INTO A VERY MATURE CYCLONE. IN FACT..A SHALLOW SQUALL LINE HAS DEVELOPED ON THE LEADING EDGE OF THIS PRECIP BAND WITH 30-35 KNOT WINDS NOTED ON TULSA RADAR ALONG WITH A WELL DEFINED GUST FRONT IN REFLECTIVITY DATA. AS THIS COMPLEX IMPINGES UPON STALLED FRONT TO THE NORTHWEST...FEEL THAT WORST CASE SCENARIO MAY BE UNFOLDING FOR PORTIONS OF THE AREA TODAY. THIS CASE IS VERY REMINISCENT OF TROPICAL STORM FRANCES IN 1998...OR MY OWN EXPERIENCES WITH HURRICANE FRAN BACK ON THE EAST COAST IN 1996 WHERE THE INTERSECTION OF TROPICAL REMNANTS AND A STALLED SYNOPTIC FRONT LED TO RECORD BREAKING RAINFALL. WE HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN FAIRLY LUCKY TO THIS POINT IN THAT THERMODYNAMIC PROFILES ARE STABLE AND NOT SUPPORTIVE OF DEEP CONVECTION. THAT NOT WITHSTANDING...IF MY CALCULATIONS OF 4 DAY STORM TOTALS ARE CORRECT...PORTIONS OF FAR WRN MO AND XTRM SE KS HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED BETWEEN 7 AND 8 INCHES OF RAINFALL BETWEEN CRAWFORD AND BARTON COUNTIES. BECAUSE THE RAIN HAS BEEN FAIRLY LIGHT BUT LONG DURATION...REPORTS OF FLOODING HAVE BEEN ISOLATED AT BEST HOWEVER THIS IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE. 00Z KLZK SOUNDING DEPICTS A MUCH WARMER BOUNDARY LAYER (EXPECTED WITHIN REALM OF GRACES CIRCULATION) AND OVER 2.4 INCHES OF PRECIPITABLE WATER. EFFECTS OF TROPICAL REMAINS AND ADDITIONAL LARGE SCALE FORCING MAY AID IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORE INTENSE RAINFALL AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING OVER AREAS THAT CERTAINLY DONT NEED IT. FROM A FORECAST PERSPECTIVE...00Z MODELS ARE TOO PROGRESSIVE IN PHASING THE LARGE SCALE UPPER TROUGH WITH THE TROPICAL LOW AND MOVING THE AXIS OF PRECIPITATION THROUGH MUCH OF THE CWA BY EARLY EVENING. THIS SCENARIO SEEMS EXTREMELY UNLIKELY GIVEN THAT AXIS OF MOISTURE IS STILL SURGING TO THE N/NW AND SYNOPTIC SCALE FRONT HAS ACTUALLY LIFTED NWWD OVER SE KS DURING THE PAST FEW HOURS. CURRENT THINKING IS THAT PRECIPITATION SHIELD WILL SIMPLY BECOME MORE LATITUDINAL WITH TIME AS NRN PORTION OF THE FRONT IS ABLE TO MAKE EASTWARD PROGRESS. THEREFORE...POTENTIAL FOR ANOTHER 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAINFALL CERTAINLY EXISTS OVER SE KS/WRN MO TODAY...WITH BANDED RAINFALL GRADUALLY OVERSPREADING THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTERNOON. WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE POPS A GOOD 6-10 HOURS LATER THAN WHAT 00Z SOLUTIONS CALL FOR...AND EXTEND FLOOD WATCH INTO TONIGHT FOR AT LEAST EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA. EVEN AFTER THE RAIN ENDS...LOW STRATUS/DRIZZLE WILL PERSIST FOR QUITE SOMETIME AS A SATURATED DEEP INVERSION DEVELOPS IN NERLY POST-FRONTAL FLOW. WILL MAKE TUESDAYS FORECAST FAR MORE PESSIMISTIC AT THIS POINT. FOG MAY BE DELAYED GIVEN 10-15 MPH NERLY FLOW FROM ON THE BACKSIDE OF FRONTAL SYSTEM...HOWEVER MAY BECOME FAIRLY WIDESPREAD TUESDAY NIGHT AS SKIES CLEAR AND GRADIENT RELAXES. && .AVIATION... EXPECT TO SEE GRADUALLY DETERIORATING FLIGHT CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT AS SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD. MVFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL AT JOPLIN AND SPRINGFIELD LATER TONIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH THE DAY MONDAY...WITH LOCAL IFR CONDITIONS IN HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION. CIGS GENERALLY AROUND 1000 FEET WITH VIS REDUCED TO 2-4 MILES IN RAIN. SFC WINDS AT JLN SHOULD BECOME N/NE DURING THE DAY...WITH WIND GENERALLY REMAINING OUT OF THE SE AT SGF. && .SGF... .MO...FLOOD WATCH ALL ZONES THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. .KS...FLOOD WATCH ALL ZONES FOR TODAY. BOOKBINDER
KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-011800- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 600 AM CDT MON SEP 1 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MISSOURI OZARKS AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED: HEAVY RAIN AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS LEADING TO AREAS OF FLOODING. AREAS AFFECTED AND TIMING: THE THREAT FOR FLOODING WILL CONTINUE REGIONWIDE FOR TODAY...AND INTO TONIGHT ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF A CASSVILLE TO SPRINGFIELD TO ROLLA LINE. DISCUSSION: HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE OR DEVELOP ACROSS MUCH OF THE OZARKS REGION TODAY AS THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM GRACE INTERSECT A COLD FRONT THAT REMAINS STALLED OVER WESTERN MISSOURI. INTERMITTENT BANDS OF RAIN AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BRING ANOTHER 1 TO 3 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION TO THE REGION THROUGH TONIGHT...LEADING TO ADDITIONAL FLOODING PROBLEMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. RAINFALL TAPER OFF FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST EARLY TUESDAY... HOWEVER FLOODING MAY PERSIST FOR SOME TIME AS RUNOFF CONTINUES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT....HOWEVER REPORTS OF RAINFALL TOTALS AND FLOODING ARE HIGHLY ENCOURAGED FROM STORM SPOTTERS...WEATHER OBSERVERS...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT. PERSONS CAMPING ON AREA CREEKS AND STREAMS NEED TO BE AWARE THAT WATER LEVELS CAN RAPIDLY CHANGE IN AND NEAR AREAS OF HEAVY RAINFALL. IF FLOOD WARNINGS ARE ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA...MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY. && THIS PRODUCT IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN GRAPHICAL FORMAT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/SGF BOOKBINDER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Law enforcement officials observed a flooded over section of Highway O.
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, September 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: 5338087.