1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 11, 8:43 AM CST, 4 hours 37 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 943 AM CDT THU SEP 11 2003 RAINFALL AMOUNT AND COVERAGE THE MAIN CHALLENGE OF THE DAY. THE 12Z SOUNDINGS...FWD/LCH/CRP...INDICATED A FAIRLY MOIST AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE OVER SE TX. LI/S WERE BETWEEN -6 AND -9...THE K INDEX FROM 30 TO 45...AND CAPES FROM 3100 TO 5050. THE ACARS/MAPS SOUNDING AT IAH FOR 13Z SHOWED A BIT MORE STABLE SITUATION WITH THE LI AT -3...K INDEX AT 30...AND CAPE AT 2124. AM A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT THE HEAVY RAINFALL ASPECTS FOR LATER TODAY OVER THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. THE PW/S FOR THE CRP AND LCH SOUNDINGS WERE UNDER THE 2 STANDARD DEVIATIONS ACCORDING TO THE HISTORICAL MARK FOR A HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT FOR THIS DATE. HOWEVER...THE FWD SOUNDING WAS ALMOST AT THE 2 STANDARD DEVIATION MARK. THE CURRENT RADAR AND SATELLITE DATA INDICATES THE STORMS MOVING THROUGH N TX SHOULD STAY NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. WILL REASSESS THE SITUATION AGAIN AROUND NOON AND UPDATE THE FORECAST IF NEEDED AT THAT TIME FOR ANY HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT. FOR NOW...THE MAIN RAINFALL WILL COME FROM THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ALONG THE COASTAL COUNTIES. THE CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS GOOD IN THIS REGARD...THOUGH WILL ADD THE POSSIBILITY OF HEAVY RAINFALL. PL-40 46 .HGX...NONE. PRELIMS... CLL TT 089/073 081/068 086 678 IAH TT 087/075 083/070 085 658 GLS TT 087/080 084/075 084 657 PREV DISC... JUICY AIRMASS REMAINS IN PLACE OVER SE TX. EXPECT SHRA/TSTMS TO INCREASE OVER THE GULF WITHIN THE NEXT COUPLE HOURS AND GRADUALLY SPREAD INLAND THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS CONVECTIVE TEMPS IN THE MID 80S ARE REACHED. DIFLUENCE ALOFT BECOMES FURTHER ESTABLISHED LATER THIS AFTERNOON ALLOWING FOR INCREASED COVERAGE COMPARED TO YDAY. WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS ALREADY IN THE FCST IN PLACE. HEAVY RAIN EVENT SETTING UP LATE TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY SAT MORNING. COOL FRONT EXPECTED TO EITHER STALL OR SLOW DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY (DEPENDING ON YOUR MODEL OF CHOICE) DURING THIS TIME PERIOD AS IT APPROACHES SE TX. ETA IS SLOWER THAN MOST OTHER MODELS...HOLDING THE H5 TROF TO OUR WEST ABOUT 12-18 HOURS LATER THAN THE GFS, NOGAPS, CANADIAN AND THE 12Z ECMWF. FOR THIS PACKAGE...WELL GO WITH THE CONSENSUS GFS SOLN AS FAR AS TIMING GOES. PWS AROUND 2.2 POOL ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND DYNAMICS ARE ALL THERE TOO: IMPRESSIVE UPPER LEVEL DIFFLUENCE/JET POSITION, SPEED CONVERGENCE ALONG THE UPPER TX COAST. EXPECT THE RAIN TO CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT ACROSS NW ZONES AND SPREAD ACROSS THE ENTIRE FA THRU THE DAY FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. AS OF NOW...WERE EXPECTING RAIN TO GRADUALLY END FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST FRIDAY NIGHT AND INTO SATURDAY MORNING. WILL ADD THE MENTION OF HEAVY RAINS TO THE ZONES THIS MORNING BUT WILL LET THE DAY CREW DECIDE WHETHER TO ISSUE AN FFA. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE LOCALIZED 6+ INCH AMOUNTS BY SAT MORNING DUE TO THE LONGEVITY AND TRAINING NATURE OF THE PRECIP...MAYBE MORE IF THE ETA SOLN VERIFIES. COULD SEE A WIND SHIFT AS SHRA/TSTM COMPLEX PUSHES THRU FRI NT/SAT. TEMPS WONT RESPOND THAT MUCH UNTIL HIGH PRESSURE SLIDING DOWN THE ROCKIES FILTERS IN ON SUNDAY. DRIER AIR AND SEASONABLE TEMPS EXPECTED THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. GULF IS QUIET FOR NOW. MAY NEED THE SCEC FLAGS FRI OR FRI NT AS ONSHORE WINDS INCREASE. 47/30
GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227- 235>238-121200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 705 AM CDT THU SEP 11 2003 ...HEAVY RAINFALL EVENT TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. TODAY...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TODAY AS TEMPERATURES WARM INTO THE 80S. LOCALIZED 2 INCH RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE. TONIGHT...AN UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM AND A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL BEGIN APPROACHING SOUTHEAST TEXAS. EXPECT NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO PERSIST GENERALLY WEST OF A MADISONVILLE TO COLUMBUS LINE DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. TRAINING PRECIPITATION COULD PRODUCE LOCALIZED 2 TO 3 INCH RAINFALL AMOUNTS OVER THIS AREA. A FLOOD WATCH MAY BE REQUIRED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY MOVE INTO ALL OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS FRIDAY AND INTO EARLY SATURDAY. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. DUE TO THE ABUNDANT MOISTURE AVAILABLE AND THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE SYSTEM...WIDESPREAD 2 TO 4 INCH RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED...WITH LOCALIZED AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES POSSIBLE. THESE RAINFALL AMOUNTS COULD PRODUCE A RISE ON AREA STREAMS AND RIVERS. AGAIN...A FLOOD WATCH MAY BE REQUIRED. THE RAIN WILL END FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST LATE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO MID DAY SATURDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL FILTER INTO THE REGION ON SUNDAY BRINGING DRY WEATHER AND SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT.
The Houston radar (KHGX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:21 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning strike, 1 fatality. Landscaper sought refuge under tree near the Pecan Grove subdivision.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Fort Bend | 2003-09-11 | 36 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
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: 5337376.