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 Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 20, 2:22 AM CST, 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 320 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT MAIN CONCERN WITH THE SHORT TERM PERIOD IS THE CONVECTION MOVING THROUGH THE AREA THIS MORNING. STRONG INSTABILITY ALONG THE FRONT CURRENTLY MOVING THROUGH THE AREA HAS COMBINED WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF MOISTURE TO SET OFF NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE EASTERN CWA. MORE COMING IN FROM NORTH DAKOTA AT THIS TIME...SO WILL KEEP MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS GOING INTO THE MORNING HOURS FOR THE EAST. A BROAD UPPER HIGH WILL REMAIN OVER THE WESTERN UNITED STATES THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH A TROUGH DIGGING SOUTHWARD OVER THE OHIO VALLEY. THIS TROUGH DOES PUSH OFF A BIT TO THE EAST BY TUESDAY...ALLOWING THE HIGH TO BUILD SLIGHTLY TO THE EAST AND INTO THE PLAINS. AT THE SURFACE...HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE IN BEHIND THE EXITING FRONT TONIGHT...THEN REMAINS DOMINANT UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT. AT THAT TIME...A FRONTAL BOUNDARY SLIDES INTO WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND LOOKS TO BE THE NEXT WEATHER MAKER IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD. .LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY DID NOT DO MUCH WITH THIS PERIOD WITH LIMITED TIME DUE TO CURRENT SEVERE WEATHER IN THE AREA AND MODELS STILL INDICATING A FAIRLY MUDDLED PICTURE...ESPECIALLY FROM THURSDAY ON. THE AFOREMENTIONED FRONTAL BOUNDARY SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE CWA WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY...WITH A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE SETTING UP OVER THE REGION FRIDAY AND SUNDAY. DID NOT CHANGE CURRENT PRECIPITATION FORECAST...AND ONLY MADE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO WINDS AND TEMPERATURES TO FIT WITH TIMING OF FRONTAL PASSAGE. .ABR...NONE. PARKIN
MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-201030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 545 AM CDT SAT JUL 19 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL... NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA...AS WELL AS BIG STONE AND TRAVERSE COUNTIES IN MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A WEAK TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA FROM THE NORTH THIS AFTERNOON AND MAY TRIGGER A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL SLIDE ACROSS SOUTH DAKOTA LATER TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA BY MIDNIGHT AND THEN MOVE INTO NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA AFTER MIDNIGHT INTO EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE OFF TO THE SOUTHEAST SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. OTHERWISE THROUGH FRIDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT. MOHR
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
0200 AM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0155 AM BRADLEY SD 0.75 IN HAIL
07/20/03 CLARK
GILLESPIEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
0201 AM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0155 AM CLARK SD 0.75 IN HAIL
07/20/03 CLARK
GILLESPIEThe Aberdeen radar (KABR), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:02 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down briefly south of Britton.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Dakota, 2003Warnings in South Dakota, 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5329895.