A few high based and marginally severe hail storms occurred over Eddy County during the evening of the 14th. The first storm developed rapidly over the city of Carlsbad.
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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 episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
A few high based and marginally severe hail storms occurred over Eddy County during the evening of the 14th. The first storm developed rapidly over the city of Carlsbad. Most reports from the city indicated one half inch hail. A trained spotter reported a few quarter size hail stones mixed in with the smaller hail. A second severe storm developed across the northeast parts of the county, and resulted in large hail which accumulated several inches deep.
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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 14, 1:36 PM MST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 236 PM CST FRI MAR 14 2003 TEMPERATURES WARMING NICELY ACROSS THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON AS WEAK UPPER LEVEL RIDGING PRESENT OVER THE AREA. A SERIES OF SHORTWAVE TROUGHS ARE LINED UP INTO THE PACIFIC AND WILL MOVE OVER THE AREA DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THE FIRST SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL TRANSLATE INTO THE AREA OVERNIGHT... PRECEDED...AND ACCOMPANIED BY MID AND UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL ALSO INCREASE OVERNIGHT FROM THE SOUTHEAST AS H85 LLJ STRENGTHENS. WITH THE INCREASE IN MOISTURE...LAPSE RATES PROGGED AROUND 7-8C/KM...DRYLINE RETROGRADING WEST...AND SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT ON THE INCREASE...HAVE INCLUDED A LOW ORDER CHANCE OF TSRA/SHRA OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE CWA. SOME OF THE ACTIVITY COULD HOLD TOGETHER LONG ENOUGH TO REACH THE PERMIAN BASIN AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...SO WENT WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE THESE LOCATIONS. ON SATURDAY...UPPER TROUGH WILL PASS...BUT AREAL COVERAGE AND STRENGTH OF TSRA DEVELOPING ALONG A SHARPENED...EASTWARD MOVING DRYLINE WILL DEPEND ON HOW MUCH CLOUD COVER PERSISTS OVER THE EAST DURING THE DAY. WILL GO AHEAD WITH LOW ORDER CHANCE OVER MUCH OF THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA...BUT WILL HOLD OFF MENTION OF SEVERE STORMS DUE TO POSSIBILITY OF LIMITED INSTABILITY...WEAK MID LEVEL WINDS IN AN OTHERWISE VEERING WIND PROFILE...AND LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN TIMING OF SURFACE AND UPPER FEATURES. EXPECT ANY ACTIVITY THAT DEVELOPS TO LINGER OVER EASTERNMOST ZONES LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. MOIST AIR WILL REMAIN OVER THE EASTERN CWA SATURDAY NIGHT...BEFORE PASSING SHORTWAVE DRIES AREA OUT FROM THE WEST SUNDAY AFTERNOON. IN THE EXTENDED...A BROAD UPPER TROUGH WILL FORM OVER THE SOUTHWEST U.S. BY LATE SUNDAY...THEN PROCEED SLOWLY EASTWARD. NEARLY ZONAL FLOW ALOFT WILL EXIST OVER THE CWA DURING THIS TIMEFRAME...WHICH WILL RESULT IN WINDY CONDITIONS AREAWIDE SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. INITIALLY...STRONGER WINDS WILL MIX DOWN FROM FAST FLOW ALOFT AS NEARLY ZONAL FLOW ALOFT PERSISTS OVER THE AREA. ON TUESDAY... LONGWAVE TROUGH TRANSLATES EAST THROUGH THE AREA...FOLLOWED BY A PACIFIC COLD FRONT...AND STRONG WINDS AGAIN DUE TO A TIGHT SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT. WILL HOLD TEMPERATURES ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH MONDAY...THEN COOL READINGS NEAR NORMAL FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK...NOT SO MUCH FROM SURFACE CAA...BUT LOWER HEIGHTS/THICKNESSES. MODELS INDICATING PRECIP AGAIN ON TUESDAY...BUT THINK WELL REMAIN TOO DRY BY THAT TIME FOR ANY. THANKS FOR COORD LBB. THE PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE BELOW IS FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES ONLY. OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN THE WEST TEXAS/SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ZONE FORECAST. MAF EE 056/079 054/084 052 67232 CNM BE 052/082 050/084 050 673-- MRF BB 046/079 042/078 041 67321 FST EE 059/083 057/087 053 67332 .MAF... TX...NONE. NM...NONE. AKL
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-151130- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 315 PM CST FRI MAR 14 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO TONIGHT. THE BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE WEST OF A LINE FROM HOBBS TO FORT STOCKTON TO RIO GRANDE VILLAGE. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED...BUT DEADLY LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN AND NEAR ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SATURDAY AFTERNOON OVER MUCH OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. THE BEST CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM HOBBS TO FORT DAVIS TO PRESIDIO. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE STRONG WITH SMALL HAIL AND STRONG...GUSTY WINDS. DEADLY LIGHTNING WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail ranging in size from one half inch to one inch was reported by a trained storm spotter in the city of Carlsbad.
A resident traveling on U.S. Highway 82 between Loco Hills and the intersection of State Route 360 reported two inches of hail covering the roadway.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, March 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: 5344648, 5344649.