1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 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 Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 2:39 PM EST, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 339 PM EDT THU JUL 31 2003 CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED THIS AFTERNOON ALONG A DISTINCT THETA E RIDGE THAT LIES FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO NORTHEAST INTO EASTERN OHIO AND NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A STRONG PLUME OF MOISTURE ALONG THIS AXIS. CONVECTION WILL PRIME SOIL FOR ADDITIONAL RAINFALL TONIGHT. SOME OF THE CONVECTION IS DEVELOPING AND MOVING VERY LITTLE CAUSING LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN AMOUNTS. SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS PROGGED TO LIFT NORTH ACROSS EASTERN OHIO AND NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA THROUGH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON. THIS FEATURE WILL BRING THE MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN CURRENTLY OVER SOUTHEAST OHIO INTO THE EASTERN FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE DIVING SOUTHEAST OUT OF IOWA WILL MOVE THROUGH ILLINOIS...INDIANA AND INTO CENTRAL OHIO TONIGHT. MODELS SHOW THIS FEATURE ROTATING NORTHEAST INTO THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST OVERNIGHT. MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN INCREASING THE INTENSITY OF THE SHORTWAVE AS IT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. QPF OF 1 TO 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN IS LIKELY ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH LOCALLY UP TO 3 INCHES IN SOME PLACES. FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE IS UP TO AROUND ONE INCH IN AN HOUR. EXPECTED AMOUNTS WILL LIKELY BRING SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS OUT OF THEIR BANKS TONIGHT. THEREFORE...HAVE HOISTED FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH 10 AM TOMORROW MORNING. FOR WESTERN PORTIONS...THERE WILL BE A CUTOFF FOR PRECIPITATION AND WILL KEEP NORTHWEST OHIO DRY OVERNIGHT. DRY SLOT EXPECTED TO WORK INTO THE AREA ON FRIDAY GIVING THE AREA A RATHER NICE DAY. EXPECTING NEXT IN A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES TO ROTATE INTO NORTHWEST OHIO BRINGING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INTO THIS AREA. MORE RAIN EXPECTED FROM FRIDAY NIGHT RIGHT ON THROUGH THE NEXT 5 DAYS THANKS TO AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM STALLING JUST NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. WE SHOULD SEE ON AND OFF AGAIN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE PERIOD. ONGOING PROBLEMS WITH FLOODING MAY BE A THREAT THROUGH THIS WEEK. TEMPERATURES WERE TWEEKED A TAD EACH DAY BUT STAYED FAIRLY CLOSE TO GUIDANCE. PRELIMINARY FORECAST ZONES ALREADY SENT. FINAL ZONES WILL BE SENT SHORTLY. .CLE... OH...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES OHZ013>014...OHZ020>023... OHZ031>033...OHZ038...OHZ089. PA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES PAZ001>003. LOMBARDY
OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-089-PAZ001>003-311315- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 709 AM EDT THU JUL 31 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... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:01 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm downburst downed dozens of trees and damaged several homes. The damage path began near Liberty Street in Painesville and continued east along Prouty Road to near State Route 44 in Concord. A mobile home was crushed by a fallen tree in Concord.
Thunderstorms dumped two to threes of rain on the central portion of Ashland County in about 90 minutes. Lowland and urban flooding occurred over the northern half of the city of Ashland. A mobile home park was under as much as two feet of water during the peak of the storm. Many streets had to be closed in Ashland because of flooding. Dozens of homes experienced basement flooding. Several cars were also damaged by flood waters. State Route 302 was closed for several hours to the west of Nankin.
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, July 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: 5375708, 5375709.