Moderate to heavy rain during the morning and afternoon hours on th 10th resulted in small stream flooding in portions of Pittsylvania and Carroll Counties. Strong winds combined with the wet ground result in several trees being uprooted across Franklin, Henry, Campbell, and Pittsylvania Counties.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 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 RNK wrote it up.
Moderate to heavy rain during the morning and afternoon hours on th 10th resulted in small stream flooding in portions of Pittsylvania and Carroll Counties. In addition, Beaver Dam Creek in Patrick County, and Tinker Creek in Roanoke County were flooded.Strong winds combined with the wet ground result in several trees being uprooted across Franklin, Henry, Campbell, and Pittsylvania Counties. In Danville, a house was damaged when a tree fell on it. In Lynchburg, trees and power lines were knocked down which resulted in 2,000 homes and businesses without power.
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 Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 10, 2:40 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA 340 AM EDT THU APR 10 2003 UPPER LOW SEEN CUTTING OFF OVER THE SOUTHEAST WITH DEEP MOISTURE BEHING DRAWN NORTHWESTWARD ACROSS THE MID/ATLANTIC AND CENTRAL APPALACHIANS. INITIALLY PRECIPITATION CONTINUES TO BE OF THE SUPPORTED BY OVERRUNNING AND DYNAMICS...BUT AS THE EVENT TRANSITIONS LATER TONIGHT AND COLD DOME SHRINKS WELL START TO SEE SOME UPSLOPE INTO THE BLUE RIDGE. EXPECTING RAINFALL TO BE HEAVY AT TIMES EXPECIALLY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WITH JET MAX ROUNDING THE EAST SIDE OF THE UPPER LOW TOWARD THE CWA. RAINFALL SHOULD END UP BETWEEN 1 AND 2 INCHES...WITH UP TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE IF UPSLOPE COMPONENT BECOMES DOMINANT THIS AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT. CERTAINLY PLENTY OF REASON THE CONTINUE FFA THROUGH THE NIGHT. AS THE UPPER LOW TRACKS TOWARD THE CWA H8 TEMPS COOL CONSIDERABLY...BUT WITH A WARM LAYER ABOVE THAT STILL DIFFICULT TO GET RID OF. WILL MENTION SOME SNOW OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN TONIGHT ESPECIALLY NW NC MOUNTAINS WHERE THERE COULD BE AN INCH OR TO ABOVE 3500 FEET. NOT MUCH CHANGE FOR FRIDAY...ALTHOUGH WITH TROPCIAL CONNECTION CUTTOFF AND VERY CHILLY AIR ALOFT WELL LIKELY SEE THE PRECIPITATION BECOME SHOWERY IN CHARACTORISTIC. AGAIN SOME SNOW OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. FINALLY WE GET THE UPPER LOW TO DRIFT NORTHEAST AND TAKE MUCH OF ITS MOISTURE WITH IT. UNFORTUNATELY A BRISK NORTHWEST FLOW REMAINS THROUGH SUNDAY WITH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...SO WHILE TEMPS WILL RECOVER SOME WITH SUNSHINE ESPECIALLY IN THE EAST WELL STILL BE ON THE COOL SIDE. FCSTID = 8 ROA 42 38 50 39 / 100 100 60 20 LYH 42 37 50 36 / 100 100 60 20 DAN 44 38 54 39 / 100 100 60 20 BLF 41 34 40 33 / 100 90 40 30 LWB 41 35 42 33 / 100 90 40 30 BCB 41 36 44 34 / 100 100 40 20 TNB 42 37 40 34 / 100 80 50 20 .RNK... NC...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ001>006...NCZ018>020. VA...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ZONES VAZ007...VAZ009>020...VAZ022>024...VAZ032>035...VAZ043>047...VAZ058>0 59. WV...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ZONES WVZ042>045.
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-111100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 650 AM EDT THU APR 10 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA... WESTERN AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT RAIN WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THROUGH TONIGHT. THIS WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS TO RISE...WITH SOME FLOODING POSSIBLE. MAIN STEM RIVERS HAVE BEGUN TO EXPERIENCE MINOR FLOODING ON THE MID REACHES OF THE ROANOKE AND DAN RIVERS. A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT ACROSS THE REGION. PLEASE SEE WBCFFARNK FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WBCFLSRNK FOR RIVER FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... PERIODS OF RAIN WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY...INCREASING THE THREAT OF FLOODING AND EXACERBATING ANY ONGOING FLOODING.. IN ADDITION...THE RAIN MAY CHANGE TO SNOW AT ELEVATIONS ABOVE 35OO FEET ACROSS THE NORTHERN NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS...AS WELL AS PARTS OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA LATE THURSDAY INTO THURSDAY NIGHT. THIS COULD RESULT IN SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS THE HIGHER RIDGES BY FRIDAY MORNING. SEE WBCSPSRNK FOR ADDED DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED IF WIDESPREAD FLOODING DEVELOPS. SPN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 strong wind, 4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, April 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: 5352190, 5352553, 5352552, 5352554, 5352187, 5352186, 5352188, 5352189.