Several severe thunderstorms affected the western Permian Basin and the Trans Pecos region. These storms resulted in large hail up to the size of golfballs and severe winds.
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 episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
Several severe thunderstorms affected the western Permian Basin and the Trans Pecos region. These storms resulted in large hail up to the size of golfballs and severe winds.
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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 23, 2:08 PM CST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 308 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2003 .SHORT TERM... SFC OBS SHOW FRONT HAS SLOWED...AND EXTENDS FROM NW OF KROW SE THROUGH KSJT AND SE. A LINE OF CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED OVR CNTRL AND SE TX ALONG AND BEHIND THE FRONT...BUT THESE STORMS ARE HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME DEVELOPING WWD. 12Z KMAF SOUNDING WAS CAPPED PRETTY WELL...AND LACK OF AN APPRECIABLE CU FIELD ON VIS SAT IMAGERY SHOWS THAT...DESPITE ABUNDANT HEATING...CAP WILL BE HARD TO OVERCOME BY LATE AFTERNOON. DIURNAL MTN CONVECTION ALSO IS FIRING OVR THE SACRAMENTOS IN NM...W/CU DEVELOPING OVR THE GUADALUPES. W/WINDS SLOWLY VEERING...EXPECT FRONT TO START LIFTING N BY LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. WILL STICK TO PREVIOUS FCST THAT SE NM HAS THE BEST CHANCES OF SEEING ANYTHING DEVELOP IN THE VICINITY OF THIS FEATURE...AS MODELS STILL SHOW INSTABILITIES TO BE BEST THERE. HOWEVER...W/FCST SOUNDINGS SHOWING MLCAPES OF ONLY 1500 J/KG THERE... AND CONSIDERING STRONG CAP FURTHER SE...WILL SCALE BACK POPS AND COVERAGE A BIT...AND CONFINE THEM TO THE EVENING HRS. .LONG TERM... BROAD UPPER LVL RIDGE WILL CONTINUE TO DOMINATE. ETA ADVERTISES A WEAK SHORTWAVE TO ROTATE SE THROUGH THE RIDGE THUR EVENING...BUT THIS WILL LIKELY CLIP JUST THE EXTREME NW CWA IF IT PANS OUT. OTHERWISE...A LACK OF FOCI PRECLUDES ANYTHING BUT A DRY FCST ATTM. WILL TWEAK TEMPS A LITTLE THROUGH THE EXTENDED TO MESH THEM W/LATEST MODEL RUNS...BUT THAT/S IT. .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MAF 73 98 74 95 / 10 00 00 00 CNM 72 99 72 97 / 30 00 00 00 MRF 58 91 58 90 / 00 00 00 00 FST 72 98 74 95 / 10 00 00 00 .MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. NM...NONE. && 44/01
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-240800- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 545 PM CDT WED JUL 23 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. STRONG STORMS ACROSS SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND THE TRANS PECOS REGION MAY PRODUCE DAMAGING DOWNBURST WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAIN WITH LOCAL FLOODING POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:12 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Damaging thunderstorm winds broke large tree limbs greater than two inches in diameter.
Reported along Highway 385.
Numerous reports of quarter to golfball size hail were received from the West Odessa area.
The local newspaper reported thunderstorm winds blew the roof off of a building just south of Pecos. An automated observing system at the local airport recorded a peak gust of 49 knots.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, 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: 5366814, 5366812, 5366813, 5366815.