A strong arctic cold front moved across northern Ohio during the early morning hours. m.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 episode as NWS CLE wrote it up.
A strong arctic cold front moved across northern Ohio during the early morning hours. A peak wind gust of 63 mph was measured in Garfield Heights (Cuyahoga County) at 1:29 a.m. Other measured gusts include; 61 mph at Cleveland-Burke Lakefront Airport, 60 mph at North Ridgeville (Lorain County) and 56 mph at the Lorain County Airport. The strong winds downed trees and power lines all along the south shore of Lake Erie. Six train cars were blown off of a bridge over Sandusky Bay (Ottawa County) around 1 a.m. A semi was blown over in Benton Township (Ottawa County) near the intersection of State Routes 2 and 590. In Erie County, a 40 by 60 foot section of metal roofing was torn off of a building located along U.S. Route 6 to the southeast of Sandusky.
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 Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 11, 9:10 PM EST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 910 PM EST TUE FEB 11 2003 UPDATED FORECAST TO INCREASE WINDS AND ADD WIND ADVISORY OVERNIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. FAST MOVING COLD FRONT NOW INTO NORTHERN INDIANA...MOVING AROUND 60 MPH. WINDS BEHIND FRONT HAVE BEEN GUSTING TO UP TO 50 MPH FOR A FEW HOURS AFTER FROPA...SO ADDED AN WIND ADVISORY FOR ENTIRE CWA. MESO ETA INCREASING 925 MB WINDS OVER CWA TO 55 KNOTS BETWEEN 03Z AND 06 THEN QUICKLY DECREASES THEM TO 30 KNOTS BY 12Z. WILL BE A SHORT LIVED EVENT...BUT WITH COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS AND SNOW COULD CAUSE NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME. AS FOR SNOW...ALTHOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN ISOLATED REPORTS OF UP TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR REPORTS IN THUNDER SNOW...FOR THE MOST PART NARROW BAND OF SNOW MOVING SO QUICKLY MAJOR CONCERN ATTM IS BLOWING SNOW. .CLE... OH...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR OVERNIGHT THRU WED AFTERNOON. PA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR OVERNIGHT THRU WED AFTERNOON. OH AND PA...WIND ADVISORY OVERNIGHT AND WED MORNING AFTERNOON.
OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-089-PAZ001>003-111315- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 610 AM EST TUE FEB 11 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MUCH OF NORTHERN OHIO AND A PORTION OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT COULD BRING A FEW INCHES OF SNOW TO THE AREA TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. BLOWING AND DRIFTING CAUSED BY GUSTY WINDS TO 25 MPH TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY COULD CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-089-PAZ001>003-120715- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 1119 PM EST TUE FEB 11 2003 AN INTENSE COLD FRONT MOVED INTO NORTHWEST OHIO. AS THE FRONT MOVED THROUGH TOLEDO WINDS GUSTED UP TO 50 MPH AND VISIBILITIES DROPPED TO NEAR ZERO. THE FRONT IS MOVING EAST AT APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH...AND IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO THE CLEVELAND AREA AROUND 1 AM. MOTORISTS SHOULD BE AWARE OF RAPIDLY DETERIORATING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, 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: 5342329, 5342330, 5342331, 5342332, 5342333, 5342334.