1 winter storm, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 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, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 2, 3:20 PM EST, 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 320 PM EST THU JAN 2 2003 UPR LOW AND ASSOCD VORTICITY WILL PIVOT NE TOWARD THE MIDDLE OHIO VLY OVERNIGHT. CWFA WILL CONTINUE TO BE IN A DISCONNECTED REGION WITH LOWER LVL CONV/UPR LVL DYNAMICS. UPR DYNAMICS WILL BE GREATEST ACRS THE SOUTH WITH THE BEST LOW LVL CONV ACRS THE ERN CWFA WITH AN INVERTED SFC TROF. ELSEWHERE IN THE NW...WEAK 850 MB CONV WILL ONLY BRING A CHC OF SNOW SHOWERS. PCPN FOR THE MOST PART OVERNIGHT WILL BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW...EXCEPT IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST WHERE IT WILL TAKE A GRADUAL CHANCE AFTER MIDNIGHT TOWARD MORNING. NO MORE THAN ONE INCH OF SNOW IS EXPECTED ACRS THE SOUTH AND EAST. ON FRIDAY...UPR LOW PIVOTS AWAY AND ASSOCD PCPN WILL END. TEMPS WILL BE ON THE COOL SIDE...IN THE UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S. CLOUDY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...DESPITE WEAK H5 RIDGING. LOW LVL MSTR WILL BE SLOW TO CLEAR...AND MID AND HIGH LVL MSTR WILL SPILL RAPIDLY FROM ALBERTA TYPE CLIPPER SYSTEM ON SATURDAY. AS THIS SYSTEM PIVOTS INTO THE OHIO VLY SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...A CHANCE OF SNOW IS EXPECTED. CONTINUE TO HAVE LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE EXTENDED FCST. IT IS APPARENT WE WILL BE IN AN ACTIVE NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. HOWEVER ...LONG RANGE MODELS KEEP FLIP-FLOPPING ON EXACT H5 LOW/SFC LOW LOCATIONS. THIS WILL SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT PCPN TYPE. WILL GO WITH PREVIOUS 00Z GFS SOLUTION ATTM AND NOT FLIP-FLOP WITH CURRENT 12Z GFS SOLUTION WHICH IS HIGHLY DIFFERENT. .ILN...NONE. HICKMAN
INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-KYZ089>100-OHZ026-034-035-042>046- 051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-088-021415- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 718 AM EST THU JAN 2 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN INDIANA...NORTHERN KENTUCKY AND THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF OHIO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL OCCUR ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING. SNOW WILL DEVELOP IN THE AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING WITH SOME ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED. SEE THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE REQUESTED TO REPORT ANY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A series of low pressure systems tracked through the Ohio River valley, producing up to four inches of snow across west central Ohio.
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, January 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: 5340638.