A cold front moved across northern Ohio during the evening hours. Showers and strong winds accompanied this front.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 cold front moved across northern Ohio during the evening hours. Showers and strong winds accompanied this front. Wind gusts in excess of 50 mph downed trees and limbs in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Several homes and at least three cars were damaged by fallen trees in Warren (Trumbull County). A peak gust of 50 mph was recorded at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport at 8:34 p.m.
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 Mar 8, 2:30 PM EST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 230 PM EST SAT MAR 8 2003 CDFNT ABT ON SCHD MOVG THRU TOL ARND 23Z. BIG QUESTION IS WILL THE TSTMS GET SVR. STABILITY IS THE BIG FACTOR ATTM. THE MOST UNSTBL AIR IS OVR SE MO AND SRN IL. QUESTION IS WL THIS OCCUR...HELICITY IS HIGH. THOUGHT ABT WIND ADV. ATTM WIND GUST TO 40 MPH SHOULD HNDL FROPA. A LOT OF DRY AIR MOVG IN QUICK SO ATTM I FEEL SNOWFALL SHOULD NOT GET OUT OF CONTROL. A LOT OF HIGH PRES FOR SUN...WITH WLY FLOW WL KP FLURRIES IN SNOWBELT FOR SUN AND SUN NGT. OTRW GUID OK. .CLE... OH...NONE PA...NONE. KIELTYKA
OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-089-PAZ001>003-081430- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 745 AM EST SAT MAR 8 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MUCH OF NORTHERN OHIO AND A PORTION OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY A COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA THIS EVENING BRINGING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE THAT SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE. COLDER AIR WILL MOVE IN BEHIND THE FRONT TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-089-082315- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 320 PM EST SAT MAR 8 2003 MOST OF NORTHERN OHIO IS IN A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE DEVELOPING FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS. THE WINDS ALOFT ARE STRONG AND EVEN SOME RAIN SHOWERS COULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG WINDS. PEOPLE ACROSS NORTHERN OHIO WILL NEED TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY AND BE READY TO MOVE TO SAFETY IF THREATENING WEATHER DEVELOPS. STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY. KIELTYKA
OHZ017>019-027>029-036-037-047-090100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 707 PM EST SAT MAR 8 2003 SHOWERS AND SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHWEST OHIO AND THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS THIS EVENING. AT 705 PM DOPPLER RADAR WAS SHOWING SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS FROM THE ISLANDS TO EAST OF FINDLAY. THE PRECIPITATION WAS MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY HAVE BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH AND SMALL HAIL. JUST BEFORE 7 PM THE WINDS GUSTED TO 46 MPH AT THE FINDLAY AIRPORT AS A THUNDERSTORM WAS NEARBY. PEOPLE ACROSS NORTHWEST OHIO AND THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS NEED TO BE AWARE THAT SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING CAN CONTAIN GUSTY WINDS. KIELTYKA
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 strong 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, March 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: 5347827, 5347828.