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 Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 4, 2:55 AM EST, 7 hours 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC 255 AM EST TUE FEB 4 2003 COLD FRONT TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA TODAY. WINDS IN THE LOWEST 2 TO 3 THOUSAND FEET LOOK TO BE IN THE 50 TO 60 KT RANGE. HOWEVER...NEAR SURFACE BASED INSTABILITY IS FORECAST TO BE NON-EXISTENT. BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF OBSERVED SOUNDINGS UPSTREAM...IT APPEARS THAT THE ONGOING CONVECTION IS NOT SURFACE BASED BUT IS BEING GENERATED AROUND THE 800 MB LEVEL. THIS EVENT LOOKS SIMILAR TO ONE THAT OCCURRED BACK IN NOVEMBER WHERE RADAR PRESENTATIONS SHOWED SOME SCARY LOOKING CELLS BUY STABILITY IN THE LOWEST 100 MB OR SO PREVENTED THE HIGH WINDS FROM MIXING DOWN TO THE SURFACE. GIVEN THE SIMILARITIES...EXPECT A BAND OF SHOWERS WITH NON-SEVERE WIND GUSTS TO MOVE THROUGH AREA THIS MORNING. WITH THE STRONG DYNAMIC SUPPORT FOR PRECIPITATION...A RUMBLE OF THUNDER IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. HIGH PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO BUILD INTO THE AREA TONIGHT AND CONTROL OUR WEATHER FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE NEAR TERM. LOW PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST THU OR THU NIGHT...BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE OF RAIN TO THE AREA THU NIGHT AND FRIDAY. OTHERWISE...DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. MARINE: ETA BUFKIT SOUNDING AT FRYING PAN SHOALS STILL INDICATING 60 KTS OF WIND JUST ABOVE 2K FT AND 50 KTS AT 1K FT EARLY TODAY AHEAD OF APPROACHING COLD FRONT. QUESTION IS HOW MUCH OF THESE WINDS WILL BE ABLE TO MIX TO THE SFC IN A WAA PATTERN WITH WATER TEMPS ONLY IN THE 40S. THINKING IS THAT LINE OF CONVECTION CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE WRN CAROLINAS MAY BRIEFLY CAUSE WINDS TO GUST OVER GALE STRENGTH...BUT WILL LIMIT SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS TO STRONG SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LEVELS...WITH THE HIGHEST WINDS OVER THE NRN WATERS WHERE LOW-LEVEL JET WILL BE STRONGEST. AFTER FRONT CROSSES THIS AFTERNOON...WINDS SHIFT W THEN NW AND WILL BE FORECAST TO DIMINISH BELOW SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LEVELS TONIGHT. SEAS SHOULD ALSO SUBSIDE RATHER QUICKLY...ESPECIALLY NEAR SHORE DUE TO THE OFFSHORE FLOW. NRLY FLOW TO PERSIST INTO THU. NEXT FOCUS IS ON LOW PRES FORECAST TO STRENGTHEN OFF THE SE COAST. SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN THE MODELS...WITH THE GFS SHOWING THE LOW PASSING EARLY THU NIGHT. THE ETA IS ALMOST 12 HRS SLOWER AND CLOSER TO THE COAST. COMPARED TO PREVIOUS RUNS OF THE GFS...THE 00Z RUN IS MUCH QUICKER SO WILL LEAN A BIT MORE TOWARD THE SLOWER ETA AS FAR AS TIMING AND TAKE A COMPROMISE WITH WIND SPEEDS. FCSTID = 31 PRELIMINARY NUMBERS ILM 70 34 55 36 / 70 0 0 0 LBT 67 32 52 34 / 70 0 0 0 FLO 67 32 55 34 / 70 0 0 0 MYR 67 33 55 35 / 70 0 0 0 .ILM... .NC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY SURF CITY TO LITTLE RIVER INLET. .SC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LITTLE RIVER INLET TO S SANTEE RIVER. PUBLIC: RAN MARINE: JAQ
NCZ087-096-097-099>101-SCZ017-023-024-032>034-039-046-041215- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 514 AM EST TUE FEB 4 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND NORTHEASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SHOWERS ARE LIKELY TODAY AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE. THE SHOWERS AND STORMS MAY PRODUCE WIND GUSTS OF 40 TO 50 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. RAN
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:03 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A measured 59 mph wind gust was recorded at the Oceanic Pier in Wrightsville Beach.
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 historyWarnings in North Carolina, February 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: 5342228.