Severe thunderstorms, including an isolated supercell over Upton and Reagan Counties, developed along and just north of an advancing cold front during the overnight hours and early morning hours of the 13th and 14th. These storms resulted in large hail up to the size of golfballs and flash flooding.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorms, including an isolated supercell over Upton and Reagan Counties, developed along and just north of an advancing cold front during the overnight hours and early morning hours of the 13th and 14th. These storms resulted in large hail up to the size of golfballs and flash flooding.
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 13, 8:03 PM CST, 3 hours 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 903 PM CDT SAT SEP 13 2003 COLD FRONT THRU KMAF WITH 3HR PRESSURE RISES INCREASING TO ARND 2 MB/3HR ACRS THE N. ATTM TSTMS FORMING ALONG/JUST AHEAD OF FRONT JUST E...BUT IR STARTING TO SHOW SOME CLOUDS DEVELOPING FARTHER W-SW. 00Z RUC STILL SUPPORTS ELEVATED INSTABILITY IN E PB WHERE STRONG WAA DEVELOPS IN 85H-8H LAYER. AS SUCH HAVE KEPT CHC POPS E/CENTRAL/S AND DECREASED POPS. WINDS SLOWLY INCREASING THRU GDP AND WILL LEAVE NPW POSTED THERE FOR LATE TONIGHT/SUNDAY AM. WILL LEAVE TEMPS ALONE AS CLOUDS/DECREASING DWPNTS/PRECIP/CAA MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE CONFIDENT CHANGES. ZIS. .SHORT TERM... COLD FRONT HAS GOOD PUSH ON WEST SIDE AND RACED INTO EDDY AND LEA COUNTY BY 16Z THIS MORNING. AS OF 18Z FRONT NEAR A WINK TO LAMESA LINE AND HEADING SOUTH... BUT MAY BE SLOWING. MAV GUIDANCE REACTING TO STRONG FRONT BY RAISING PRECIP CHANCE TONIGHT. ETA AND MESO ETA NOT AS CONFIDENT WITH PRECIP AS MAV AND TENDS TO KEEP IT EAST. WILL RAISE POPS SLIGHTLY TONIGHT BUT KEEP IN CHANCE CATEGORY. AS FAR AS TEMPS LASTEST GUIDANCE CONSISTENT WITH PAST RUNS... LITTLE CHANGE EXPECTED. LATEST GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO KEEP HIGH WINDS OUT OF GDP TIL AFTER 00Z... WILL HAVE TO CONITINUE TO MONITOR TO SEE IF TONIGHTS HIGH WIND WARNING NEEDS TO BE MOVED UP A FEW HOURS. && .LONG TERM... SUNDAY SHOULD TURN OUT TO BE A VERY COOL DAY ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA...ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH. THE MESOETA AND GFS BOTH KEEP 85H TEMPS IN THE 11C-14C RANGE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THICK CLOUD COVER COMBINED WITH AN UPSLOPE COMPONENT TO THE WIND SHOULD KEEP AFTERNOON MAXES VERY COOL...PERHAPS SOME 15 TO 20 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. THE ATMOSPHERE WILL REMAIN VERY MOIST ON SUNDAY. THE BEST INSTABILITY IS PROGGED TO BE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE CWA...SO WILL TREND TOWARDS HIGHER POPS SOUTH WHILE MAINTAINING SLIGHT CHANCES OF RAIN ACROSS THE NORTH. A COOL NIGHT IS EXPECTED SUNDAY NIGHT AS THE SURFACE RIDGE BUILDS IN. HAVE KEPT A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN GOING ACROSS ALL AREAS AS THE ETA SHOWS SOME ISENTROPIC LIFT IN THE 295K AND 300K LAYERS. A WARM UP WILL RETURN BEGINNING MONDAY AND LASTING THROUGH THURSDAY AS THE FORECAST AREA WILL BE ON THE NORTHERN FRINGE OF AN UPPER RIDGE AND THE LEE SURFACE TROUGH SETS UP THROUGH THE WEEK. THE NEXT FRONT LOOKS TO PUSH THROUGH THE REGION IN THE LATE THURSDAY/EARLY FRIDAY TIME FRAME. WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THIS FEATURE ACROSS THE EASTERN ZONES THURSDAY NIGHT...WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES AND A CLEARING TREND ON FRIDAY. SATURDAY LOOKS TO BE QUITE NICE WITH SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPERATURES. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MAF 59 68 56 81 / 40 40 20 10 CNM 57 69 56 84 / 20 20 20 10 MRF 56 70 51 78 / 30 40 20 10 FST 62 71 59 82 / 40 40 20 10 && .MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .TX...HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT GUADALUPE PASS TXZ258. .NM...NONE. 72/21
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-141000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 246 PM CDT SAT SEP 13 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE GUADALUPE PASS TONIGHT. SUSTAINED NORTHEAST WINDS OF 40 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TONIGHT GENERALLY EAST OF A HOBBS TO FORT STOCKTON LINE. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH STRONG WINDS THE PRIMARY THREAT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE POSSIBLE OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE REGION TONIGHT.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:24 UTC.
3 flash flood, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Law officials reported flash flooding resulting in high water flowing over Farm to Market Road 2401 just east of Midkiff.
Reported at a rural gas plant on the Upton/Reagan County line just off of Farm to Market Road 1555.
Reported at a rural gas plant on the Upton/Reagan County line just off of Farm to Market Road 1555.
Flash flooding resulted in Highway 137 being inundated by high water, resulting in the highway becoming impassable.
Law enforcement officials reported up to eight inches of high water flowing over Highway 349 as a result of flash flooding.
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: 5337226, 5337227, 5337228, 5337225, 5337229.