19 hail, 3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 Fort Worth, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 15, 8:50 PM CST, 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 950 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003 .PUBLIC DISCUSSION... A LARGE TORNADIC SUPERCELL HAS CONTINUED TO MOVE SLOWLY EAST JUST NORTH OF INTERSTATE 20. THE STORM FORMED NEAR THE WARM FRONT...JUST SOUTHWEST OF ABILENE. EARLIER...A BIT OF A MESOLOW WAS WEST OF THE AREA...NEAR THE WARM FRONT...DRY LINE INTERSECTION. THIS PROBABLY ENHANCED LOCAL CONDITIONS...ALLOWING STORM FORMATION. A NEW TORNADO WATCH IS ABOUT TO BE ISSUED...FOR AREAS JUST WEST OF THE DFW AREA. WE WILL UPDATE THE ZONES WHEN THE WATCH COMES IN. THE MAX PRESSURE FALLS AT 00Z EXTENDED FROM NEAR ABILENE NORTH INTO THE PANHANDLE. THIS MAY MORE OR LESS DEMARK THE SOUTHERN END OF SIGNIFICANT LARGE SACLE LIFT...AND ROUGHLY THE SOUTHERN CUT-OFF ZONE FOR BOUNDARY LAYER BASED THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS. THE SUPERCELL ALSO HAS FORMED JUST INSIDE THE SATELLITE WATER VAPOR DRY SLOT...ALSO INDICATING A ZONE OF LARGE SCALE LIFT...WITH SUBSIDENCE FURTHER WEST WITHIN THE DRY SLOT. THUS...THE BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDER AND SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS TO BE NORTH OF I-20 OVERNIGHT...GIVEN NO OTHER MAJOR CHANGES. WE WILL LOWER POPS EVER SO SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 20...AND KEEP THEM CLOSE TO CURRENT VALUES NORTH OF I-20. 26 ...AVIATION DISCUSSION... CLDS MIXING TO LOW VFR AT THIS HOUR...WITH MAINLY SCT020-030 DECKS UNDERNEATH. EXPECT CLDS TO REMAIN SCT-BKN VFR THRU 09Z DFW/DAL/FTW...WITH ACT MVFR BY ARND 09Z. IF...OR MORE LIKELY WHEN...CONVECTION REACHES THE AIRPORTS...SKIES WILL GO TEMPO MVFR...WITH VFR RETURNING AFTER PASSAGE. WINDS SHLD INCR AFTER 03Z OR SO AS INTENSIFYING LOW PRESSURE MOVES NEARER AND THE LOW LEVEL JET GETS HOWLING AT 40+ KTS. 30/SS FCSTID = 26 DFW 72 88 64 81 / 60 60 0 0 ACT 75 90 64 82 / 20 40 0 0 PRX 71 85 62 78 / 60 60 30 30 DTO 71 88 63 81 / 60 60 0 0 TKI 71 87 63 80 / 60 60 0 0 DAL 72 88 64 81 / 60 60 0 0 TRL 72 87 64 80 / 60 60 20 20 CRS 74 88 65 80 / 20 60 30 30 TPL 75 91 65 82 / 20 40 0 0 .FWD... TX...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT FRIDAY FOR ZONES TXC093... TXC133...TXC429...TXC503.
TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-161100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 337 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT NORTHWEST OF A SHERMAN...GRANBURY...CISCO LINE...AND A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NORTHWEST OF AN ATHENS TO LAMPASAS LINE. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND POSSIBLY A TORNADO. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... ON FRIDAY...THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EAST OF I-35 AND NORTH OF I-20...AND A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EAST OF A JACKSBORO TO LAMPASAS LINE. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE FROM VERY LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND POSSIBLY A FEW TORNADOES... MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN TO NORTH TEXAS ON TUESDAY. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED BEFORE 11 PM WEST OF A GAINESVILLE TO GOLDTHWAITE LINE...AND ELSEWHERE IN THE SLIGHT RISK AREA MAINLY AFTER 1100 PM.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
19 hail, 3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
The tornado moved mostly through open country damaging fences and tearing sheet metal off a barn, then moved into southern Stephens County before lifting 3 miles southeast of Eolian. This was reported by a rancher, whose property the tornado passed through.
The tornado moved through open country damaging fences and trees before lifting 3 miles southeast of Eolian. This was reported by a rancher, whose [property the tornado passed through.
A brief tornado was observed by a trained spotter.
A tree was blown onto a road by thunderstorm winds.
Lightning hit an Oncor transmission line between Somervell County and Parker County, causing at least 4 power plants to temporarily shut down. 300,000 to 400,000 customers across Texas were without electricity from 15 minutes to 2 hours before power was restored.
A lightning started fire in northeast Ft Worth severely damaged a house and it's contents.
Golfball size hail was reported at Mildred.
Nickel size hail was reported at Angus.
Golfball size hail covered the ground.
Occurred on the east side of Lake Limestone.
Golfball to baseball size hail was reported.
The 61 mph wind gust occurred at Bear Mountain just west of Highway 148.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2003Warnings in Texas, May 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: 5353093, 5353094, 5353089, 5353087, 5353088, 5353086, 5353091, 5353090, 5353085, 5353095, 5353096, 5353083, 5353084, 5353097, 5353082, 5353080, 5353098, 5353081, 5353079, 5353985, 5354073, 5353099, 5353984, 5353983, 5353100, 5353092.