1 cold/wind chill, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 5, 3:15 PM CST, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 315 PM CST WED FEB 5 2003 LARGE AND SHARP WEST COAST MID LEVEL RIDGE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE. THIS WILL KEEP THE 500 MB FLOW OVER OUR REGION NORTHERLY FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. A DEPARTING SHORT WAVE TROUGH IN THIS FLOW WILL ALLOW SUBSIDENCE TO TAKE OVER...CLEARING OUR SKIES AND ALLOWING TEMPERATURES TO FALL SUB ZERO OVERNIGHT. A 10 TO 15 MPH WIND WILL PRODUCE WIND CHILLS LOW ENOUGH TO WARRANT A WIND CHILL ADVISORY FOR ALL BUT THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF OUR FORECAST AREA....WHERE IT WONT GET QUITE AS COLD. AN APPROACHING SHORT WAVE TROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT WILL GENERATE A BRISK SOUTHWEST CHINOOK WIND...FORCING TEMPERATURES TO RISE TOWARD DAYBREAK FRIDAY...AND THEN REACH NEAR THE FREEZING MARK FRIDAY AFTERNOON. IN THE LONGER TERM...LOOK FOR ANOTHER SOUTHWARD MOVING SHORT WAVE TO BRING CLOUDS AND A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW EARLY THIS WEEKEND...WITH COLDER TEMPERATURES FOLLOWING. .BIS...WIND CHILL ADVISORY...CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST..ISN..MOT..BIS..JMS RSL
NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-031>037-040>048-050-051-061130- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 525 AM CST WED FEB 5 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT TEMPERATURES BELOW ZERO IN THE JAMESTOWN AREA THIS EVENING...WITH NORTHWEST WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH...WILL CREATE WIND CHILLS OF 20 TO 30 BELOW ZERO. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. VINING
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
A women, age unknown, left her home walking to the grocery store. She took refuge in an abandon house with no electricity or heat. She died of hypothermia. No other information was available.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold/Wind Chill, Sioux | 2003-02-05 | Female | Other | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, 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: 5340887.