1 tornado, 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 Newport/Morehead City, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 6, 2:21 PM EST, 2 hours 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC 321 PM EDT WED AUG 6 2003 UNDULATIONS OF UPR TROF WILL CONTINUE UNSETTLED CONDITIONS OVER ERN NC THRU WEEKEND. POPS WILL HINGE ON TIMING OF SHRT WVS RATHER THAN NORMAL DIURNAL PATTERN AND OBVIOUSLY MORE CONFIDENCE IN SHORTER TERM. FOR TONIGHT...WILL GO WITH 40 POP FOR CURRENT ACTVTY CONTG INTO EVE...THEN 20/30 FOR MOST OF OVERNIGHT WITH LULL EXPECTED. RAISE POPS TO 50 FOR NEAR 12Z AS EXPECT ANOTHER WV OF ACTIVITY WITH NEXT SHRT WV TO MOVE INTO AREA. LIKELY POPS FOR THU WITH SVR SHRT WVS...THEN DECRSNG OVERNIGHT. MORE SHRT WV ACTION FOR FRI BUT WILL HOLD TO 50 POP FOR NOW WITH LESS CONFIDENCE IN MODEL TIMING. CONTINUED CHC POPS SAT-WED PERIOD AS TROF LOOKS TO HOLD IN THRU AT LEAST MON AND THEN SOME DIFFERENCE IN MED RANGE MODELS WITH PSBL PATTERN CHANGE SO WILL STICK WITH CLIMO. MARINE: NOT MUCH CHANGE IN THE MARINE PATTERN THRU THE NEXT 5 DAYS. IN THIS S-SW FLOW PATTERN...NOTICED GFS HAS BEEN RUNNING ABT 5-10KT TOO STRNG...AND CONSEQUENTLY WW3 A FOOT OR SO TOO HI. THRU THE NEXT 5 DAYS...GFS AT TIMES INCRSS THE SFC WINDS AOA 25 KT WITH EACH PASSING WAVE ALONG THE BNDRY INLAND. ETA REMAINS WEAKER WITH THE TIGHTEST GRAD OFFSHORE. THAT SAID...WL APPLY A 5-10KT DECRS TO GFS...AND BRING SEAS UP TO MARGINAL SCA WITH EACH OF THESE PASSING WAVES. IN FACT...APPEARS WL HV MARGINAL SCA SEAS LATER THU THRU SUN MAINLY S OF HAT. .MHX...NONE. JBM/NP
NCZ029-044>047-079>081-090>095-098-103-104-061100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC 418 AM EDT WED AUG 6 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR TODAY AND A FEW COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND POSSIBLE HAIL. A MODERATE RIP CURRENT THREAT SOUTH OF CAPE HATTERAS. SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING IS POSSIBLE TODAY, ESPECIALLY IN PITT COUNTY WHERE DOPPLER ESTIMATES OF 4 TO 6 INCHES FELL IN THE GREENVILLE VICINITY OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ALTHOUGH NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME, THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TODAY. 12
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
1258 PM EDT WED AUG 06 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1230 PM 5 N AURORA NC TORNADO
08/06/03 BEAUFORT BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN
REPORTED AT PHOSPHATE MINE.
NO DAMAGE.
JBMNCZ093-095-098-061900- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORMS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC 206 PM EDT WED AUG 6 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT ONSLOW...CARTERET AND CRAVEN COUNTIES UNTIL 300 PM EDT... AT 206 PM EDT...THERE WERE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS 8 MILES NORTH OF NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. THE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR CAMP LEJEUNE AT 220 PM EDT...PINEY GREEN AT 225 PM EDT...HUBERT AT 230 PM EDT...STELLA AT 240 PM EDT...PELETIER AT 245 PM EDT. OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTHERN CRAVEN COUNTY AND WESTERN CARTERET COUNTY. OTHER LOCATIONS TO BE AFFECTED BY THE STORMS INCLUDE BOGUE...CAPE CARTERET...CATFISH LAKE...CEDAR POINT...CHERRY POINT...DIXON...FOLKSTONE...HAMMOCKS BEACH...HAVELOCK...HOLLY RIDGE...NEUSE FOREST...NEW RIVER AIR STATION...NEWPORT...NORTH HARLOWE...RIVERDALE...SNEADS FERRY...SWANSBORO AND VERONA. WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH AND SMALL HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS AND LOCALIZED FLOODING IN LOW LYING AREAS. MOTORISTS SHOULD SLOW DOWN ON AREA ROADWAYS TO AVOID HYDROPLANING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THE WEATHER SITUATION ACROSS THE AREA. MLF
The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:45 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Police reported brief tornado touchdown across highway 70. Waterspout moved onshore then across highway 70 with trees down and damage to two structures.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 2003Warnings in North Carolina, 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: 5334654.