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 May 31, 8:55 AM EST, 5 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 955 AM EDT SAT MAY 31 2003 MORNING SOUNDINGS INDICATIVE OF WIND DAMAGE WITH PLENTY OF DRY AIR ALOFT. COUPLE THAT W/WSW MID LEVEL WINDS OF 70 KT AND THAT APPEARS TO BE THE MAIN THREAT. HOWEVER...A FEW INDICES POINTING TO A TORNADO THREAT I.E. SWEAT 482 AND EHI 7. BRN POINTING TO SUPERCELLS. HIGHEST HELICITIES APPEAR TO BE INTO EARLY AFTERNOON AND THEN BECOMING MORE UNIDIRECTIONAL LATE AFTN AND TONIGHT. INSTABILITY ACTUALLY NOT THAT IMPRESSIVE TODAY...BUT THAT SHOULD BE EASILY OVERCOME BY STRONG DYNAMICS. DEWPOINTS HAVE RISEN TO UPPER 50S TO LOWER 60S. SHOULD SEE MID OR EVEN UPPER 60S...ESPECIALLY COASTAL AREAS AS COLD FRONT NEARS LATER AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. SOUTHERN EXTENT OF ONE BATCH OF CONVECTION STILL AROUND FROM LAST NIGHT MOVING INTO AREA AT TIME AND THIS WAS EXPECTED. ALREADY THICKER CLOUD COVER HAS OVERSPREAD AREA AND THIS IS LIMITING ANY INSOLATION FROM GETTING THROUGH. THE MOST POTENT SHORTWAVE TODAY AND TONIGHT WILL MOVE FROM OH TO VA. ANOTHER WEAKER ONE WILL MOVE FROM ACROSS MO AND PASS SOUTH OF THE AREA OVERNIGHT. A COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA 03Z TO 06Z. AHEAD OF THIS STRONG FEATURE...EXPECT MOISTURE AND AVAILABLE INSTABILITY TO FOCUS INTO A SQUALL LINE. STILL EXPECT THE MOST ACTIVE/SEVERE WEATHER TO PUSH BY N OF THE ILM CWA TODAY. HOWEVER...THAT BEING SAID...I DO EXPECT NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS OUR AREA AND GIVEN MORNING SOUNDINGS AND REFLECTING ON MODEL OUTPUT...CONFIDENCE IS HIGH THERE WILL BE SOME SEVERE WEATHER. THIS IS WELL HANDLED IN CURRENT FORECAST AND IN MORNING SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK. HOWEVER...AN UPDATE TO ZONES WILL BE REQUIRED TO CLEAN UP TIMING ISSUES AND TO REFLECT A LIKELY PROBABILITY OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. CWF: WINDS CURRENTLY 10 KT ALONG THE COAST TO THE HIGH SIDE OF 15 KT AT THE BUOYS. SEAS STILL FAIRLY FLAT...ONLY 2 FT AT FPSN7/41004 AND NEXT TO NOTHING IN THE SURF ZONE. SCA FLYING ALREADY AND STILL EXPECT THE GRADIENT TO TIGHTEN THIS AFTERNOON. WILL DROP WINDS A CAT AS MMGFPS ONLY BRINGS UP 30 KT BY 00Z AT THE TOWER. SEAS WILL BE DURATION LIMITED SO MIGHT TWEAK RANGES DOWN FROM CURRENT FCST...BUT STILL REACHING SCA THRESHOLDS AWAY FROM SHORE. .ILM... NC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY AMZ250-252. SC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY AMZ254-256. PUBLIC: DIGIORGI MARINE: RAS
NCZ087-096-097-099>101-SCZ017-023-024-032>034-039-046-311045- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 444 AM EDT SAT MAY 31 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND NORTHEASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES....EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS...STORM SPOTTERS GROUPS...AND OTHER INTERESTED CONCERNS SHOULD MONITOR THIS SITUATION AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN YOUR AREA. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL TELEVISION OR RADIO STATIONS...OR YOUR CABLE OR SATELLITE TELEVISION PROVIDER FOR LATER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER THREAT. SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. RAN
NCZ087-096-097-099>101-SCZ017-023-024-032>034-039-046-312300- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 1245 PM EDT SAT MAY 31 2003 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND A SURFACE COLD FRONT WILL ACT ON WARM...UNSTABLE AIR OVER NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA AND SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL...PARTICULARLY DURING THE EVENING HOURS. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES....EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS...STORM SPOTTERS GROUPS...AND OTHER INTERESTED CONCERNS SHOULD MONITOR THIS SITUATION AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN YOUR AREA. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL TELEVISION OR RADIO STATIONS...OR YOUR CABLE OR SATELLITE TELEVISION PROVIDER FOR LATER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER THREAT. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/ILM DIGIORGI
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:53 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Robeson 911 reported numerous trees and power lines down. One large tree fell on a house.
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, May 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: 5355382.