A severe thunderstorm during the afternoon of the 9th tracked from about 7 miles northeast of Centenery to 7 miles east northeast of Dillwyn. At times the damage path was 2 miles wide with sporadic damage to buildings and 3 comercial chicken houses destroyed.
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 episode as NWS RNK wrote it up.
Thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours on the 9th produced hail up to golf ball size, damaging winds, and dangerous lightning.A severe thunderstorm during the afternoon of the 9th tracked from about 7 miles northeast of Centenery to 7 miles east northeast of Dillwyn. At times the damage path was 2 miles wide with sporadic damage to buildings and 3 comercial chicken houses destroyed. Numerous large trees were downed and uprooted along the path of the storm. In addition to the damaging winds, this storm also produced golf ball size hail along it's track. A fatality also occured when a tree was toppled onto a house in Arvonia.Thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees in Nathalie with many reports of damage to automobiles and houses. Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees 4 mile east-northeast of Newcastle, broke off 2 inch diameter tree limbs 1 miles south of Bedford City, snapped off trees and tore down a conveyor tower 2 miles east northeast of Newcastle, knocked down numerous trees which blocked roads in Buchanan and Turbeville, toppled trees and power lines, damaged the a barn and tore some shingles off a house from 2 miles northwest of Huddleston to Huddleston, snapped off trees and knocked down a school zone traffic light sign in Altavista, knocked down numerous trees, damaged a house, and moved a metal shed 100 feet in Hurt, knocked down numerous trees in Huddleston, knocked down numerous trees Hurt, and from Clover to 3 miles southeast of Dryburg.A woman was injured when she was struck by lightning in Roanoke.
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 May 9, 1:30 PM EST, 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA 230 PM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003 MODELS CONT TO HANDLE WAVES COMING OVER THE RIDGE WITH RELATIVELY GOOD CONSISTENCY. CRNT WAVE OF STORMS WILL EXIT THE REGION THIS EVENING...WITH ANOTHER WAVE PROGGED TO MOVE OVER THE MID-ATL AREA TMRW...ALBEIT JUST A BIT FURTHER NORTH. THEN UPR RIDGE PROGRESSES EAST. STRONG WAVE ROTATING THRU THE TROF OVER THE GREAT LAKES PUSHES A COLD FRONT THRU THE AREA SUNDAY. PCPN ALONG THE FRONT WILL DIMINISH THRU THE DAY AS DYNAMICS PULL OUT TO THE NORTH. CLEARING SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH MOSTLY CLEAR AND COOL WX THRU TUESDAY NGT OR WED. SOME UPSLOPE SHOWERS POSSIBLE IN THE FAR NW MONDAY AFTN AND EVE. NEXT WAVE STILL PROGGED TO APPROACH THE AREA TOWARD THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. FCSTID = 9 ROA 65 82 67 83 / 30 30 30 40 LYH 62 83 68 84 / 30 30 30 30 DAN 64 87 69 87 / 30 30 30 30 BLF 60 79 64 72 / 30 30 30 50 LWB 57 78 61 70 / 30 30 40 50 BCB 60 80 63 76 / 30 30 30 40 TNB 60 77 59 74 / 30 30 20 40 .RNK... NC...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE.
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-100845- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 455 AM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA... WESTERN AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTY WARNING AREA TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. THE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND AGAIN ON SUNDAY. A COLD FRONT MOVING ACROSS THE REGION ON SUNDAY WILL BE THE LEADING EDGE OF A COOLER AIRMASS...WITH DRY WEATHER EXPECTED THROUGH MID WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON. AMS
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059-WVZ 042>045-101000- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 1205 PM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT. THE THREAT THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT IS GREATEST ACROSS THE GREENBRIER VALLEY...THE ALLEGHANY HIGHLANDS... AND AREAS NORTH OF A LINE FROM ROANOKE TO LYNCHBURG. THIS AREA WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF A WARM FRONT THAT WILL BE PUSHING NORTH. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY ACCOMPANY SOME OF THESE STORMS. ELSEWHERE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED STORMS TO CONTAIN LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. ACTIVATION OF SKYWARN SPOTTER GROUPS MAY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THE SEVERE STORM POTENTIAL TODAY AND TONIGHT. AMS/SPN
WVZ045-092000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 230 PM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003 STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH 4 PM. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS...AS WELL AS FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. $S BS
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 153 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:55 UTC.
13 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind, Buckingham | 2003-05-09 | 30 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
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, May 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: 5355515, 5355516, 5355517, 5355518, 5355519, 5355520, 5355521, 5355522, 5355523, 5355524, 5355805, 5355804, 5355806, 5355809, 5355807, 5355808, 5355810, 5355812, 5355813, 5355811, 5355814, 5355815, 5355816.