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 29, 1:35 PM CST, 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 235 PM CDT TUE JUL 29 2003 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 7PM... .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT COLD FRONT MOVING INTO CWA AND SAGGING SOUTHEAST AT ABOUT 20-30MPH. CONVERGENCE BOUNDARY AHEAD OF FRONT GENERATING THUNDERSTORMS...SOME HAVE BEEN SEVERE. INSTABILITY WITH AMPLE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND LIFT MECHANISMS HELPING TO FUEL CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON. 18Z SOUNDING SHOWS DOUBLED CAPE AND PW FROM 12Z. LEADING INFLUENCE OF COLD FRONT WAS IN VICINITY OF BALLOON TRAVEL DURING THE 18Z LAUNCH. MODELS IN GOOD SHAPE FOR REMAINDER OF FORECAST PERIOD. EXPECT UPPER RIDGE TO REBUILD AND STABILIZE REGION LATE WEDNESDAY. TEMPERATURES AND PRECIP TO BE SEASONAL. FEW CHANGES TO MAJORITY OF GRIDS. ADJUSTED WX AND POP GRIDS TO REFLECT THUNDER POTENTIAL THIS EVENING WITH SOME CARRY OVER WEDNESDAY DUE TO WRAP AROUND FLOW. MCNULTY .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY GFS AND ECMWF MODELS BEGINNING TO SHOW BETTER AGREEMENT. THE PERIOD STARTS OFF WITH AN UPPER TROUGH SLOWLY DRIFTING EASTWARD OVER THE GREAT LAKES...AND A RIDGE BUILDING FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS NORTHWARD OVER THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS. THIS GENERAL PATTERN WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH THE RIDGE BUILDING FURTHER TO THE NORTH THROUGH MONDAY. A SHORTWAVE ROTATING AROUND THE WEST SIDE OF THE UPPER LOW WILL PUSH THE RIDGE BACK A BIT TO THE WEST ON TUESDAY...WITH THE BEST ENERGY REMAINING JUST TO THE EAST OF THE CWA. AT THE SURFACE...A VERY BROAD AND UNORGANIZED PATTERN SETS UP WITH NO DEFINITE BOUNDARIES AROUND THROUGH THE PERIOD. THE BEST CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION WILL COME SUNDAY NIGHT...AND AGAIN MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY WHEN THE UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVES IN THE AREA WILL LEND THE MOST SUPPORT. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN RIGHT AROUND NORMAL WITH H85 TEMPS IN THE TEENS TO MID 20S. PARKIN .ABR...NONE.
MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-301030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 318 PM CDT TUE JUL 29 2003 .SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 700 PM THIS EVENING... .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... A COLD FRONT CROSSING THE AREA THIS EVENING WILL GENERATE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING UNTIL 700 PM. SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN, SD
139 PM CDT TUE JUL 29 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0130 PM 7 SW MILLER SD .75 INCH HAIL
07/29/03 HAND
APPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN, SD
152 PM CDT TUE JUL 29 2003
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0135 PM 1 S MILLER SD .75 INCH HAIL
07/29/03 HAND
0145 PM 3 N SAINT LAWRENCE SD 1.00 INCH HAIL
07/29/03 HAND
APThe Aberdeen radar (KABR), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:22 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down briefly in Redfield while a damaging straight line wind event was occurring.
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5329896.