6 miles before dissipating. This tornado was about 30 yards wide.
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 RNK wrote it up.
Thunderstorms during the late evening of the 22nd, into early morning of the 23rd produced a couple of tornados, flash flooding, small stream flooding, and damaging winds.A tornado developed in a cornfield about 2 miles south-southwest of Crystal Hill in Halifax County, and traveled north-northeast about 0.6 miles before dissipating. This tornado was about 30 yards wide. It knocked down trees, with one falling on a house, resulting in gutter and siding damage.Another tornado developed 4 miles east of Halifax, in Halifax County, and traveled a quarter mile to the north-northeast before dissipating. This tornado was about 30 yards wide. It snapped off numerous trees, and ripped shingles off the roof of a house.Heavy thunderstorm rains produced flash flooding of the South River near Riverside with damage to several homes. Small stream flooding occurred across the western part of Henry County. Big Toby Creek, 1 mile north-northwest of Paces, overflowed its banks, and flooded Ashton Hall Road.Thunderstorm winds downed trees, with damage to a home, in Lynchburg, and a home 5 miles east of Halifax.
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 Sep 22, 2:00 PM EST, 8 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA 300 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003 TNGT...FRONTAL SYSTEM NOW ENTERING THE OH VALLEY SET TO PUSH QUICKLY SE AND THRU THE REGION BY TUE MORNING. MAIN CONCERN WITH PRE-FRONTAL BAND OF LOW TOPPED SHRA/ISOLD TSRA AS INCREASING WINDS ALOFT/ UPSTREAM PHASING PROPEL AXIS OF DEEP RH ACROSS THE RIDGES EARLY THIS EVENING. GIVEN STRENGTH OF LLJ...AND POTENTIAL MIX DOWN ASSOCD WITH CORE AXIS OF APCHG CONVECTIVE BAND...APPEARS SOME THREAT FOR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS ESPCLY RIDGETOPS EVEN IN ABSENCE OF ANY THUNDER. THUS WILL CONT SPS TO HIGHLIGHT PTNL EARLY ON...OTRW CAT POPS W THIS EVE SHIFTING OUT INTO THE PIEDMONT BY SUNSET. COULD SEE SOME STRONGER ISOLD CELLS DEVELOP ERN ZONES IN BETTER SHEAR IN ADVANCE OF MAIN DYNAMICS/SRN STREAM VORT...BUT PER LIMITED INSTAB SHOULD NOT BE WDSPRD TSRA. GIVEN PHASED SYSTEM BECMG MORE PROGRESSIVE THINK FLOOD THREAT OF ISOLD NATURE...WITH BRIEF/LOCALIZED PROBLEMS PSBL SINCE HVY RAIN SHOULD BE IN AND OUT IN A FEW HOURS. THEREFORE PLAN TO HOLD ON ANY FFA SINCE QPF BELOW FFG OVERALL AND WINDOW FOR PROLONGED HVY RAIN RATHER SHORT. LOOKS LIKE ANY HIGH POPS AFTER MIDNGT BASICALLY E OF THE BLUE RIDGE...BEFORE ALL TAPER OFF BY DAYBREAK ONCE GOOD UVV EXITS. TEMPS GNRLY AT OR ABOVE MAV MOS WITH A LATE FROPA. TUE-WED...FRONT MOVES THRU A BIT FASTER TAKING SHRA OFFSHORE EARLY TUE ALLOWING CLEARING SKIES...AND A GUSTY NW BREEZE TO KICK IN AS HIGH PRES BUILDS IN FROM THE SW. WILL LEAVE IN SOME CLOUDS EARLY E OTRW PLAN TO REMOVE POPS GIVEN QUICK PUNCH OF DRYING ALOFT/SUBSIDENCE. CLEAR AND QUITE COOL TUE NGT WITH READINGS CLOSE TO 40 IF NOT BELOW NW VALLEYS AND NEAR 50 SE. HIGH BEGINS TO PULL OFFSHORE WED IN RESPONSE TO NEXT APCHG 5H TROF AND ASSOCD WEAK CD FRONT. MAY SEE A FEW AFTN CLOUDS FAR SW IN RETURN FLOW OTRW MAINLY SUNNY AND SEASONAL. THU-FRI...NEXT FRONT SHOULD APCH THU BEFORE WASHING OUT CROSSING THE RIDGES THU NGT/FRI. LIMITED RH IN PROGRESSIVE NW FLOW ALOFT SUGGESTS -SHRA THREAT LOW ESPCLY ERN HALF...SO WILL HOLD SLGT CHC POPS TO NW UPSLOPE ZONES INTO THU EVE WHEN THE GFS APPEARS OVERDONE ON RH. OTRW GNRLY PC WITH HIGH TEMPS 70-75 W AND CLOSE TO 80 SE. EXTENDED...THIRD IN SERIES OF S/W TROFS TO BE THE MAIN PLAYER OVER THE WEEKEND AS UPR PATTERN AMPLIFIES ONCE AGAIN. TIMING OF SHRA INIT AND WHEN MAIN RH BODY AHEAD OF THE FRONT WILL ARRIVE STILL IFFY PER DIFFERING MODEL SOLNS. APPEARS RETURN FLOW COULD BE ENOUGH TO BRING SHRA CHCS SW LATE SAT...THEN CONTG SUNDAY AS ACTUAL FRONT CROSSES. HOWEVER LACK OF RETURN SRN STREAM MOISTURE LIKELY TO LIMIT TO LESS COVERAGE THAN CURRENT FRONT SO LIKE LOW CHC POPS FOR NOW. PLANNING ON FRONT BEING NEAR THE COAST MON WITH ENSUING CAA PLUS DRYING/COOLER WX FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. .RNK... NC...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE. JH
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-241000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 635 AM EDT MON SEP 22 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA... WESTERN AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY RIVER FLOODING IS POSSIBLE TODAY ALONG THE MIDDLE JAMES AND THE DAN RIVERS DUE TO THE RAIN MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. PLEASE REFER TO WBCFLWRNK FOR ANY RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS THAT MAY BE ISSUED TODAY. THIS PRODUCT CAN BE VIEWED ON THE BLACKSBURG OFFICE INTERNET PAGE AT WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/ER/RNK. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. AMS
VAZ016-017-032-230115- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 848 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003 STRONG WINDS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH 930 PM ACROSS CARROLL... PATRICK AND FLOYD COUNTIES AS A THUNDERSTORM TRACKS QUICKLY NORTHEAST. WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 50 MPH COULD OCCUR BETWEEN FANCY GAP AND COPPER HILL...ALONG AND NEAR THE BLUE RIDGE. JDS
NCZ003>006-019-020-VAZ022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059-230300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 943 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003 GUSTY WINDS ARE ACCOMPANYING A BAND OF HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH THE FOOTHILLS OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA THIS EVENING. THIS BAND OF SHOWERS...WITH EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS...WILL SLOWLY WORK ITS WAY EAST AND INTO THE PIEDMONT THROUGH MIDNIGHT. WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN SOME OF THE HEAVIER DOWNPOURS. THIS COULD TOPPLE SOME TREES THAT HAVE BEEN WEAKENED BY ISABEL. LOCALIZED FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE THIS EVENING ALONG AND EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE. JDS
NCZ003>006-019-020-VAZ022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059-230457- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 1100 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003 GUSTY WINDS ARE ACCOMPANYING BANDS OF HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS MOVING THROUGH THE FOOTHILLS OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA TONIGHT. THESE BANDS OF SHOWERS...WITH EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS...WILL SLOWLY TRAVEL EAST AND INTO THE PIEDMONT THROUGH 1 AM. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE TO TWO INCHES ARE POSSIBLE. WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN SOME OF THE HEAVIER DOWNPOURS. THIS COULD TOPPLE SOME TREES THAT HAVE BEEN WEAKENED BY ISABEL. LOCALIZED FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE TONIGHT ALONG AND EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE. 07
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:59 UTC.
2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 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 historyThe tornado archive for Virginia, 2003Warnings in Virginia, 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: 5337744, 5337743, 5337746, 5337745, 5337742, 5337747, 5337741.