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 Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 18, 1:12 PM CST, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 212 PM CDT THU SEP 18 2003 .DISCUSSION... MAIN FOCUS THIS PERIOD WILL BE WITH PRECIPITATION CHANCES TONIGHT AND WITH TEMPERATURES BEHIND THE FRONT. SYNOPSIS CLOUD COVER HAS BEEN SLOW TO PUSH EAST INTO THE AREA...WITH MOST OF CWA HAVING A FULL DAY OF SUNSHINE. SHARP TEMPERATURE CONTRAST FROM EASTERN MISSOURI TO CENTRAL KANSAS AS READINGS REALLY DROP OFF QUICKLY BEHIND THE FRONT. RADAR SHOWING BAND OF CONVECTION ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEAST KANSAS PUSHING INTO SOUTHWEST CORNER OF MISSOURI. INSTABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO MAINLY THIS AREA AS SURFACE DEW POINTS REMAIN IN THE MID TO UPPER 50S ACROSS EASTERN HALF OF CWA. NOT MUCH OF A SEVERE WEATHER THREAT BUT HAVE INCLUDED AN ISOLATED THREAT OF A SEVERE STORM ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST MOST PORTION OF CWA THROUGH SUNSET. SHORT TERM FRONT SHOULD PUSH THROUGH THE CWA TONIGHT WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT AND SCATTERED SHOWERS BEHIND THE FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LEVEL WAVE. TEMPERATURES QUICKLY DROP OFF BEHIND THE FRONT AND WILL HAVE THE LOWEST TEMPERATURES IN THE NORTHWEST OVERNIGHT WHERE READINGS SHOULD DIP INTO THE MID 40S. WHILE EVERYTHING SHOULD CLEAR OUT DURING THE MORNING HOURS FRIDAY...COLD AIR ADVECTION WILL BE TAKING PLACE ALL DAY. LOOKING UPSTREAM...TEMPERATURES HAVE HAD A HARD TIME REACHING 60 SO FAR TODAY. FOR THIS REASON...HAVE UNDERCUT GUIDANCE TEMPS ON FRIDAY ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. FRIDAY NIGHT THINGS SHOULD CALM DOWN BUT WITH LIGHT WIND AND CLEAR SKY...SHOULD SEE GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING TAKE PLACE WITH LOW TO MID 40S FOR LOWS IN MOST LOCATIONS. SOME VALLEYS MAY DIP DOWN INTO THE UPPER 30S. LONG TERM UPPER PATTERN REMAINS AMPLIFIED WITH NEXT SYSTEM DROPPING SOUTHEAST OUT OF ALASKA/CANADA INTO THE AREA LATE SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. YESTERDAYS MODELS HAD SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WITH STRENGTH OF SYSTEM AND AMOUNT OF COLD AIR PUSHING IN BEHIND SYSTEM. TODAYS MODELS ARE MORE IN AGREEMENT ALTHOUGH GFS STILL STRONGER AND COOLER WITH SYSTEM. FAIRLY COLD AIR MASS SHOULD MOVE IN BEHIND THIS SYSTEM ON MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT...BUT SHOULD SEE A FAIRLY RAPID WARMING TREND BY MID TO LATE WEEK WITH HIGHS REACHING THE UPPER 70S TO AROUND 80 AGAIN. && .AVIATION... SHARP COLD FRONT INDICATED BY SURFACE OBSERVATIONS AND LOWER CEILINGS OVER SOUTHEAST KANSAS AND NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA. A SMALL BAND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS COLD FRONT WHICH WILL LIKELY AFFECT JOPLIN AIRPORT BETWEEN 18-19Z. WINDS SHIFT TO THE WEST AND NORTHWEST WITHIN AN HOUR BEHIND THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CEILINGS LOWERING TO 2500 FEET. SOME IFR CEILINGS WERE NOTED AROUND WICHITA THIS MORNING...BUT I DO NOT EXPECT THESE CEILINGS UNTIL AFTER SUNSET. SPRINGFIELD AIRPORT SHOULD BEGIN TO SEE THE CONVECTION AFTER 21Z WITH SOME ISOLATED STORMS POSSIBLE AHEAD OF THE MAIN COLD FRONT EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. CEILINGS WILL LIKELY LOWER TO MVFR CONDITIONS LATE THE AFTERNOON AS WINDS SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST AND GUST UP TO 20 KTS OR MORE. THERE IS SOME CONCERN ON WHETHER THE CLOUD COVER WILL DISSIPATE OVERNIGHT. HOWEVER...AN LEANING OPTIMISTICALLY AND ALLOWING VFR CONDITIONS AFTER 06 IN JOPLIN AND 09Z IN SPRINGFIELD. NO OTHER CHANGES EXPECTED IN THE 12 TO 24 HOUR TIME PERIOD AS VFR CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE AS A MODIFIED MOIST PACIFIC AIR MASS MOVES INTO THE REGION. && .SGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...NONE. KS...NONE. && LINDENBERG(PUBLIC) / TAGGART(AVIATION)
KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-191100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 555 PM CDT THU SEP 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MISSOURI OZARKS AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED: ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF DIMES AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH. AREAS AFFECTED AND TIMING: SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT SOUTH CENTRAL MISSOURI EAST OF A LINE FROM VERSAILLES...TO BUFFALO...TO MARSHFIELD THROUGH 8 PM. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS ALL OF THE OUTLOOK AREA UNTIL MIDNIGHT. DISCUSSION: A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE MISSOURI OZARKS THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SCATTERED ALONG THE FRONT...BUT BE CONCENTRATED ACROSS CENTRAL MISSOURI. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS IN THIS AREA MAY APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS WITH HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF DIMES AND WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH. MARGINAL INSTABILITY WILL INHIBIT THE POTENTIAL OF SEVERE WEATHER. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE EAST OF THE OUTLOOK AREA BY 9 PM. A FEW STORMS MAY LINGER BEHIND THE FRONT UNTIL MIDNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA ON SUNDAY AND WILL BRING THE NEXT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE IN GRAPHICAL FORMAT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/SGF FOSTER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
614 PM CDT THU SEP 18 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0555 PM GRAVOIS MILLS MO WIND DAMAGE
09/18/03 MORGAN TREES DOWN. REPORTED BY
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.The Springfield radar (KSGF), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:17 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Law enforcement officials observed several downed trees from severe thunderstorm wind gusts.
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: 5338088.