Severe thunderstorms resulted in very large hail and damaging winds across parts of West Texas during the afternoon and evening of the 10th. The hardest hit areas included the northeast Permian Basin, where hail as large as baseballs was reported.
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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.
Severe thunderstorms resulted in very large hail and damaging winds across parts of West Texas during the afternoon and evening of the 10th. The hardest hit areas included the northeast Permian Basin, where hail as large as baseballs was reported. Despite multiple reports of very large hail, no reports of significant damage to property or agricultural crops were reported.
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 Sep 10, 1:58 PM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 258 PM CDT WED SEP 10 2003 .SHORT TERM... A STRONG MID AND UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TRANSLATING EAST ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKIES WILL BE THE MAIN WEATHER FEATURE OF INTEREST FOR THE SHORT TERM FORECAST. UPPER AIR ANALYSES ALONG WITH WV SAT LOOP REVEAL A STRONG JET ROTATING AROUND THE SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF THIS TROUGH. THE SYSTEM IS ALSO PACKING SOME COOL AIR AS A COUPLE OF SITES OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE COLORADO ROCKIES HAVE BEEN REPORTING SNOW THIS MORNING. CONVECTION IS ONCE AGAIN EXPECTED FOR OUR AREA. WE EXPECT STORMS TO FIRE OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE WESTERN CWA GIVEN ADEQUATE MOISTURE...DAYTIME HEATING AND 7H-5H LAPSE RATES NEAR 7.5C/KM. MULTICELL STORMS ARE ANTICIPATED THIS EVENING AND A FEW MAY BECOME SEVERE PRODUCING HAIL/STRONG WINDS GIVEN RELATIVELY LOW WET-BULB ZERO HEIGHTS AND INVERTED-V FORECAST SOUNDINGS. ISOLATED SUPERCELLS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE TONIGHT AS THE LOW-LEVEL JET CRANKS UP AND MID-LEVEL WINDS INCREASE AS THE UPPER TROUGH NEARS THE AREA. IN GENERAL...THE CURRENT POP STRUCTURE LOOKS GOOD AND WE WILL ALSO CONTINUE THE SEVERE WORDING IN THE ZFP. WIND GRIDS GENERALLY LOOK FINE...EXCEPT OVER THE GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS WHERE WE ANTICIPATE SLIGHTLY STRONGER WINDS THAN THE PREVIOUS FORECAST. MIN TEMPS WERE ALSO RAISED GIVEN PROGGED DEW POINTS/CLOUD COVER. && .LONG TERM... MODELS INITIALIZED FAIRLY WELL ON UPPER LVL LOW CURRENTLY OVR WY... AS WELL AS ASSOCIATED PAC FRONT EXTENDING FM SW AZ...TO CNTRL CO...TO WRN ND. AS SUCH...FRONT SHOULD BE THRU SE NM BY MID AFTERNOON THU... BUT STILL THINK MODELS ARE UNDERESTIMATING IT A BIT ON TIMING. WILL CONTINUE CONCENTRATING BEST CHANCES IN THE SE ZONES ALONG WHERE FRONT MAY SLOW A BIT AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. H85 TEMP PROGS INDICATE COOLER AIR BEHIND THE FRONT SHOULD BRING TEMPS THU TO SEASONAL NORMALS...ALTHOUGH GUIDANCE PRODUCTS VARY CONSIDERABLY ON JUST HOW CLOSE. WILL USE A BLEND...GOING ON H85 ETA PROGS...WHICH INITIALIZED WELL. AS FRONT EXITS SE THU EVENING...CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY SHOULD BEGIN TAPERING OFF NW-SE. BELIEVE FRONT WILL MOVE FAST ENOUGH TO YANK POPS FM THE 4TH PD...AND WILL KEEP FRI DRY UNDER GOOD SUBSIDENCE AS TROUGH AXIS PASSES. ZONAL FLOW ENSUES FRI-SAT...BEFORE A SECONDARY TROUGH MOVES THROUGH THE FA AND BACKDOORS ANOTHER FRONT SUNDAY MORNING. THIS LOOKS TO BE A MORE POTENT FRONT...AND SHOULD RESULT IN THE COOLEST TEMPS FOR THE AREA SINCE LAST SPRING...ABOUT MID 70S FOR KMAF. CONSIDERING THE CONSISTENT TIMING/STRENGTH OF THIS FRONT BETWEEN GFS MODEL RUNS...HAVE INCREASE POPS SUN BY 10 PCT. GRADUAL WARMUP SHOULD FOLLOW THROUGH THE EXTENDED. MRF HINTS AT BRINGING A WEAK TROUGH N OF THE AREA TUE NIGHT...BUT THE EURO IS MUCH SLOWER WITH THIS FEATURE. GIVEN THE DISAGREEMENT...WILL KEEP REST OF THE EXTENDED DRY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MAF 71 83 60 77 / 40 40 10 00 CNM 63 83 54 81 / 30 20 10 00 MRF 57 81 49 73 / 30 30 20 00 FST 71 87 58 78 / 30 40 20 00 && .MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .TX...NONE. .NM...NONE. && 06/44
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-111000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 230 PM CDT WED SEP 10 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT OVER THE SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO PLAINS...PERMIAN BASIN AND WESTERN LOW ROLLING PLAINS. THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO PLAINS...PERMIAN BASIN AND WESTERN LOW ROLLING PLAINS MAY BE REQUESTED THIS EVENING. PLATT
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:24 UTC.
2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Large limbs measuring "several inches" in diameter were broken off of trees at a rural residence in far southeast Pecos County by severe thunderstorm winds.
Two reports were received of baseball size hail along Farm to Market Road 1610 west of Knapp. The local newspaper editor reported windows knocked out of rural homes by the large hail stones. Several second hand reports of crop damage were received, but local authorities said the damage was very isolated in nature. Roof and vehicle damage also resulted.
Golfball hail was reported in the Colorado City vicinity.
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, September 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: 5337594, 5337230, 5337231.