A strong cold front moved through the region during the early morning hours of the 1st. After the front passed, winds gusted up to 55 MPH through early afternoon.
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 LWX wrote it up.
A strong cold front moved through the region during the early morning hours of the 1st. After the front passed, winds gusted up to 55 MPH through early afternoon. The gusty winds downed a number of trees region wide because the ground was saturated from recent heavy rains. Measured wind gusts across northern Virginia included 52 MPH at Falls Church and Page, 46 MPH at Washington Reagan National Airport and Leesburg, 44 MPH at Manassas and Woodbridge, 42 MPH at Alexandria, and 41 MPH in Reston. In Loudoun County, a large tree fell onto a road in Middleburg. In Fairfax County, trees were downed onto power lines in Annandale. Power was knocked out in Springfield. Countywide, 23 minor fires were reported after power lines were torn down. Also, a fallen tree severely damaged a home in Vienna. In Alexandria, a large tree significantly damaged a house on Vantage Road and another tree was felled onto a home on Wythe Street. In Falls Church, trees were downed onto power lines. In Stafford County, several trees were reportedly downed.
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 Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 1, 2:30 AM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 330 AM EDT SUN JUN 1 2003 ...SHORT TERM (TODAY AND TONIGHT)... AT THE SFC...TYPICAL EARLY JUNE 992 MB LOW CENTER OVER SRN NJ SLOWLY MOVING NE TODAY. WAIT...THAT IS NOT TYPICAL. ACCORDING TO CTP EYEWALL WEB SITE THIS IS ROUGHLY A MINUS 4 STANDARD DEVIATION FOR THIS REGION AT THIS TIME OF YEAR. WRAP AROUND MOISTURE EVIDENT IN RADAR AND SATL IMGRY WL NECESSIATE A SLIGHT CHC POP FOR NRN THIRD OF CWA FOR THIS MORNING. 00Z ETA AND 03Z RUC SHOWED DYNAMICS FAVORABLE FOR CONTINUED STREAMERS OF MOISTURE TO ROTATE AROUND THE LOW EARLY THIS MORNING. MAIN FORECAST ISSUE TODAY THOUGH ARE THE WINDS. YES IT WILL BE WINDY AS THE LOW MOVES OUT. FORECAST COMPLICATED BY SLOW CLEARING OF CLDS RELATIVE TO DAYTIME INSOLATION. ONCE CLOUDS PART AND SUN HEATS SFC UP...THEN WINDS WILL MIX DOWN. SO FAR...ETA/RUC MDLS HAVE BEEN SLIGHTLY OVER-FORECASTING SPEEDS OF LOW-LVL WINDS. BUT ONCE WE LOSE THE CLDS...THEN LOOKING AT 25 TO 30 MPH W GUSTS IN THE LOW 40S. WITH SPEEDS CLOSE TO ADVSRY CRITERIA...COMPTEMPLATED AN ADVSRY...BUT DECIDED AGAINST IT SINCE 1) CLDS MAY HANG IN LONGER AND KEEP WINDS SLIGHTLY LOWER AND 2) PRES GRADIENT BEGINS TO SLACKEN BY MID AFTERNOON. GIVEN MORE CLDS EARLY TODAY...AND CAA BEHIND THE LOW...WL BACK DOWN ON MAX TEMPS TODAY BY ABOUT A CAT OR 2. SKIES SHOULD CLEAR BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON OVER ENTIRE CWA AND WINDS WILL BEGIN TO SLACKEN QUICKLY. THEN FOR TONIGHT...CLEAR SKIES AS HIGH PRES BUILDS IN FROM THE W. HOWEVER ENOUGH GRADIENT AT LOW LEVELS WL HELP KEEP WINDS UP OVER THE CWA. THAT IS GOOD BECAUSE DRIER AIR MOVING ADVANCING INTO THE CWA WL DROP DEW PT TEMPS DOWN WELL INTO THE 30S BY EARLY MON MORNING. A FEW LOCATIONS IN THE FAR WRN COUNTIES (GRANT...ALLEGANY...MINERAL... HIGHLAND...PENDLETON)...IF WINDS GO CALM...COULD ACTUALLY HAVE A LIGHT FROST. LATER SHIFTS MAY NEED TO RE-ASSESS THIS SITUATION. SMZ .LONG TERM MON THRU SAT... STILL PLANNING ON A NICE DAY MONDAY AS SFC RDG MOVES OVERHEAD BY DAYS END. LOW MEAN RH VALUES AND SUBSIDENCE SHD BRING ABUNDANT SUNSHINE TO THE CWA. WENT FOR 10 PCT CLD COVER IN THE GRIDS. WENT A TAD HIER ON MAXES IN THE SW. SEE NO REASON WHY IT SHOULD BE COOLER AT CHO VERSUS DCA MON. 850 MB TEMPS FCST HIER THERE. CUD BE SOME HI CLDS IN THE AFTN BUT DONT THINK IT WILL RETARD HTG THAT MUCH. GFS HAS JOINED THE ETA IN BRINGING MOISTURE FURTHER N ON TUE. WEAK SFC WAVE WILL MOVE E ALG FNTL BOUNDARY TO OUR S. ETA MUCH FURTHER N THAN THE GFS. IT ALSO HOLDS ONTO MOISTURE LONGER. THIS TREND WILL HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED. ETA HAS BEEN A BIT MORE CONSISTENT LAST FEW RUNS WITH THIS FEATURE. ANOTHER WAVE MOVES E ALG THE FNT WED AS BOUNDARY BEGINS TO PULL N. PRETTY VIGOROUS PIECE OF S/W ENERGY PROGGED ACRS NC. ANOTHER WEAKER PIECE AFFECTS OUR CWA. WILL CONT CHC POPS FOR WED. DITTO FCST FOR THU. FNT WILL BE OVR THE CWA THEN. SOME UPR LVL SUPPORT WITH MARGINAL MOISTURE PROGGED. INSTAB LOOKS PALTRY BUT WONT YANK TRW MENTION YET. NO CHG TO REMAINDER OF LONG TERM. NEW EXTENDED GFS HOT OFF THE PRESSES SHOWS FRIDAY TO BE DRY. WILL WAIT ANOTHER RUN BEFORE PULLING POPS. CDFNT PROGGED THRU SAT NGT/EARLY SUN. POPS SATURDAY WARRANTED. RDH .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE. MARINE...SCA ALL ZONES TODAY.
DCZ001-MDZ002>007-009>011-013-014-016>018-VAZ021-025>031-036>042- 050>057-WVZ048>055-011700- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 440 AM EDT SUN JUN 1 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MARYLAND WEST OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND EAST OF GARRETT COUNTY...THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA...NORTHERN VIRGINIA...THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY...AND THE EASTERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE... OCCASIONAL WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON DUE TO STRONG LOW PRESSURE OFF THE COAST. THE WINDS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH BY EVENING AS THIS SYSTEM EXITS THE REGION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. RDH
DCZ001-MDZ002>007-009>011-013-014-016>018-VAZ021-025>031-036>042- 050>057-WVZ048>055-011800- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 450 AM EDT SUN JUN 1 2003 ...JUNE TO BEGIN WINDY... STRONG LOW PRESSURE OFF THE MID ATLANTIC COAST THIS MORNING WILL BRING HIGH WINDS TO THE REGION THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. WINDS WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH DURING THE MID AND LATE AFTERNOON HOURS...AND EVEN MORE SO THIS EVENING. YOU SHOULD BRING IN ANY LOOSE OBJECTS OUTSIDE THAT COULD BE BLOWN AROUND BY THE WIND...SUCH AS TRASH CANS AND LAWN FURNITURE. HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES SHOULD USE EXTRA CARE GOING OVER BRIDGES AND OVER MOUNTAIN TOPS TODAY. RDH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 strong wind. 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, June 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: 5369996, 5369997, 5369998, 5369999, 5370000, 5370001, 5370002, 5370003, 5370004, 5370005, 5370006.