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 Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 6, 2:00 AM CST, 11 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 300 AM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003 CONCERNS WILL BE PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURES TODAY AND THE CHANCE OF CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON/NIGHT. MID LEVEL TROF FORECAST TO MOVE SLOWLY NORTHWARD ALONG WITH SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DRAGGING PRECIPITATION SHIELD WITH IT THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS INTO SOUTHERN CANADA. WILL END RAIN ACROSS SOUTHERN CWA THIS MORNING BUT KEEPING IT NORTHERN AREAS THROUGH MID AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES POSE A PROBLEM IN THE SOUTH..DEPENDING HOW MUCH SUN IS RECEIVED. ON WEDNESDAY...A SOUTHWEST FLOW AT THE MID/UPPER LEVELS DEVELOP IN RESPONSE TO DIGGING SHORT WAVE TROF OVER EASTERN MT AND SURFACE BOUNDARY SETTING UP OVER EASTERN MT/WY IN THE AFTERNOON. SYSTEM FORECAST TO DESTABLIZE ATMOSPHERE WITH LIS AROUND ZERO AND CAPES TO 400 J/KG OVER THE CWA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...BECOMING MORE STABLE AFTER 00Z. THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN A THREAT AS THE SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS THE CWA. NO CHANGE IN THE EXTENDED PACKAGE. CONTINUES TO ADVERTISE A WET WEEKEND. .BIS...NONE. RGT
NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-071030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 525 AM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief touchdown in a land fill then lifted and disipated. No damage reported.
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 historyThe tornado archive for North Dakota, 2003Warnings in North Dakota, 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: 5355031.