Precipitation during the first half of the month brought minor drought relief to the extreme southeast portion of Utah. However, extreme to exceptional drought conditions continued across eastern Utah through the month.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 GJT wrote it up.
Precipitation during the first half of the month brought minor drought relief to the extreme southeast portion of Utah. However, extreme to exceptional drought conditions continued across eastern Utah through the month. See the October 2003 Storm Data publication for a continuation on this drought situation.
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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 1:19 PM MST, 10 hours 41 minutes earlier.
WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 219 PM MDT SUN AUG 31 2003 SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT)...CYCLONIC NORTHWEST FLOW BEHIND SOUTHEAST WYOMING CIRCULATION HAS ACCOUNTED FOR SOME CLOUD COVER OVER PARTS OF NORTHWEST COLORADO. RECENT SATELLITE IMAGES SHOWING SOME VERTICAL ENHANCEMENT OVER ROUTT COUNTY. ISOLATED SHOWERS POSSIBLE WITHIN THIS CLOUD MASS...BUT NO ECHO RETURNS EVIDENT ON THE RADAR. SUBSIDENCE WITH WARMING ALOFT INHIBITING UPWARDS MOTION...BUT SOME SURFACE HEATING WITH OROGRAPHIC LIFT SHOULD INDUCE SOME LIGHT SHOWERS BEFORE THE DAY IS OVER. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE ZONES...SUNNY CONDITIONS PREVAIL AS AIR MASS HAS STABILIZED. WEAK CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL EXISTS OVER THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS DURING THE MID AFTERNOON HOURS...SO POSSIBLE THUNDER THERE THROUGH EARLY EVENING. AIR MASS STABILIZES ALL AREAS THIS EVENING AS RIDGE AXIS OVER THE GREAT BASIN REACHES WESTERN COLORADO LATER OVERNIGHT. RIDGE AXIS FLATTENS ON MONDAY AS A SHORT WAVE CIRCULATION... CURRENTLY OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA...MOVES INTO THE GREAT BASIN. A VORTICITY LOBE IN ADVANCE OF THIS FEATURE REACHES WESTERN COLORADO BY MIDDAY. SOME MID AND HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE...IN THE FORM OF CIRRUS AND SCATTERED ALTOCUMULUS...SHOULD REACH NORTHEAST UTAH AND PARTS OF NORTHWEST COLORADO DURING THE AFTERNOON. ETA MODEL DOES NOT SHOW ANY CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL...AND THIS LOOKS ACCEPTABLE WITH RELATIVELY WARM TEMPERATURES ALOFT AND THE LACK OF MOISTURE. WILL DROP ANY MENTION OF AFTERNOON STORMS AND SHOWERS. AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES RECOVER A FEW DEGREES AS AIR MASS WARMS. FRISBIE TUESDAY...REMNANTS OF CALIFORNIA LOW PUSH INTO THE NORTHERN CWA... WITH THE GFS FASTER THAN THE ETA. BOTH MODELS TAP SOME MARGINAL MONSOONAL MOISTURE FROM AROUND THE LAS VEGAS HIGH AND PRODUCE GOOD 5-3 FORCING. GFS PRODUCES MORE CONVECTION/QPF DUE TO A MOISTER LESS-INVERTED BOUNDARY LAYER. WITH DRYING OCCURRING NOW AND ETAS BETTER RESOLUTION...WILL FOLLOW WITH SCATTERED POPS MAINLY IN THE MTNS. WILL EVALUATE TOMORROW FOR PROBABLE POP INCREASE...ESPECIALLY NORTH. WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY...CALIFORNIA LOW REFORMS AND UPPER HIGH REMAINS ANCHORED IN NORTHERN ARIZONA WITH A WEAK SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE TAP INTO THE GREAT BASIN. LOW-GRADE MONSOON EXPECTED EACH LATE-DAY WITH DAYTIME TEMPS ABOVE NORMAL. RAMEY .GJT...NONE.
COZ001>014-017>023-UTZ022>025-027>029-011200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 540 AM MDT SUN AUG 31 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN COLORADO AND FOR EASTERN UTAH .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE THIS AFTERNOON UNTIL EARLY THIS EVENING. THE MAIN THREATS FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL...WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH...AND CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...INCREASING TO SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH...AND SMALL HAIL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... MOBILE WEATHER SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER...SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PHONE IN REPORTS OF HEAVY RAIN...STRONG WINDS AND HAIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. CJC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, 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: 5371523, 5371524, 5371525, 5371526, 5371527, 5371528, 5371529.