1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 15, 1:00 PM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 200 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 2003 ********************************************************************* 200 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 2003 ...TONIGHT AND SATURDAY... ANOTHER MUGGY NIGHT WITH PATCHY DENSE FOG AROUND. COLD FRONT TO PUSH DOWN FROM THE GREAT LAKES SATURDAY. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. WENT LIKELY NORTH AND EAST SATURDAY...WITH THE BEST LIFT. CHANCE POPS ELSEWHERE. TEMPERATURES WILL BE A TAD LOWER SATURDAY WITH INCREASE CLOUDS AND STORMS AROUND. ...SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT... MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON COLD FRONT PUSHING ACROSS CWA LATER SATURDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY. GOOD CHANCE OF CONVECTION ALONG AND AHEAD OF FRONT SATURDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY SUNDAY...BUT POPS DECREASE RAPIDLY ON SUNDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS SOUTH OVER CWA. SOME CLOUDS EXPECTED TO LINGER INTO MONDAY AS A COUPLE OF WEAK SHORT WAVES IN DEVELOPING NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT MOVE ACROSS THE CWA. HOWEVER...BY THIS TIME...ENOUGH DRY AIR WILL BE IN PLACE TO KEEP OUT ANY MENTION OF SHOWERS FOR SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. MOS GUIDANCE FROM ALL MODELS ARE CLOSE AND LOOK REASONABLE...WITH ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT COOLING TREND THIS PERIOD. ...TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... WITH A CONTINUATION OF MONDAY...WILL START THIS PERIOD OFF DRY. TOOK OUT MENTION OF PRECIP TUESDAY. THIS HAS BEEN BACKED UP BY THE 3 LATEST GFS RUNS. AFTER A SHORT DRY PERIOD...THE MENTION OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL JUMP BACK INTO THE FORECAST. DID TWEAK TEMPERATURES...LOWERING A FEW DEGREES WITH LATE WEEK COLD FRONT FRIDAY. .RLX... WV...NONE. VA...NONE. KY...NONE. OH...NONE. .END/ JS/JMV/KF ********************************************************************* 1010 AM EDT FRI AUG 15 2003 CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS ON TRACK. POPS IN LINE WITH CURRENT MODEL MOISTURE FIELDS. NO MAJOR CHANGE TO AIRMASS...SO TEMPS ARE IN LINE AS WELL. NO CHANGES ARE EXPECTED...EXCEPT TAKING OUT WORDING FOR MORNING FOG. .END/ JS ********************************************************************* 330 AM EDT FRI AUG 15 2003 ...TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT... SURFACE FRONT MAY BE SLOWER THAN GFS SOLUTION...BUT THERE IS AT LEAST HOPE FOR SOME CLEANER AIR TO REACH NORTHERN COUNTIES SUNDAY AFTERNOON...AND MAY BE SOUTHERN COUNTIES FOR MONDAY. AS UPPER RIDGES SLIPS W...DEEPER MOISTURE MOVING SLOWLY EASTWARD ON A NW-SE TRAJECTORY TODAY. WITH LACK OF UPSLOPE...THOUGHT A BIT HIGHER POP THIS AFTERNOON IN THE WEST COMPARED TO THE EAST. THOUGHT THE ETA GUIDANCE A BIT HIGH ON POPS TODAY. UPPER AIR SUPPORT OVERNIGHT MAY KEEP CLOUDS AND SOME SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS AROUND LATE. BEST COVERAGE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS FIGURED FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THEN...AS FLOW ALOFT INCREASES FROM THE NW. INCREASED POPS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THINKING LINGERING CLOUDS/FEW SHOWERS SUNDAY MORNING...BUT THEN TRIED TO DRY OUT AFTERNOON HTS-CRW ON N. LOWERED/REMOVED POPS SUNDAY NIGHT. ...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... ONLY REAL CHANGE AT THIS POINT WAS TO ADD SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHRA/TSRA TO THE MOUNTAIN COUNTIES FOR MONDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING. FRONT IS EAST OF AREA BY THIS TIME...BUT E/SE FLOW FROM HIGH OFF TO THE NORTHEAST WILL KEEP SOME MOISTURE HUGGING THE EASTERN SLOPES OF THE MOUNTAINS. 00Z GFS RUN HINTS AT A SLOWER SOLUTION TO NEXT APPROACHING SYSTEM FOR TUESDAY...WITH A STRONGER RIDGE OVER THE UPPER MIDWEST. STILL...RELUCTANT TO BITE ON LOWERING POPS ANYWHERE RIGHT NOW GIVEN THIS STRANGE SUMMER PATTERN. DID TWEAK TEMPS DOWN A BIT TOWARDS ISC NEIGHBORS...ALSO TWEAKS TO SKY/QPF AS APPROPRIATE. BATTY/CL ********************************************************************* 850 PM EDT THU AUG 14 2003 ANOTHER MUGGY NIGHT ON TAP WITH FOG AND LOW CLOUDS DEVELOPING. AN ISOLATED CLUSTER OF SLOW MOVING STORMS DEVELOPED OVER POCAHONTAS COUNTY LATE THIS AFTERNOON...BUT HAS SINCE DROPPED SOUTH INTO THE GREENBRIER VALLEY. ONLY A FEW MINOR SHOWERS REMAIN AND THEY SHOULD CONTINUE TO DIMINISH WITH THE LOSS OF HEATING. MANY LOCATIONS HAVE ALREADY FALLEN TO BELOW 3 MILE VISIBILITIES AND EXPECT AREAS OF DENSE FOG TO AGAIN DEVELOP. WILL UPDATE FORECAST TO REMOVE MENTION OF PRECIP AND ADD FOG AND LOW CLOUDS DEVELOPING. HC *********************************************************************
KYZ101>103-105-OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087-VAZ003-004-WVZ005>011- 013>020-024>040-046-047-151500- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 500 AM EDT FRI AUG 15 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEASTERN OHIO...NORTHEASTERN KENTUCKY...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...AND MOST OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... IN THE MUGGY AIR...AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT...A LINE OF STRONG TO POSSIBLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY MOVE FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST... SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. THE PRIMARY THREAT WOULD BE DAMAGING WINDS. BATTY
KYZ101>103-OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087-WVZ010-011-020-031-032-152300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 352 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 2003 HERE IS A SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FOR SOUTHEAST OHIO...NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...AND NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...SOME LIKELY CONTAINING TORRENTIAL BRIEF DOWNPOURS...SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS...WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 7 PM. PERSONS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR PONDING OF WATER IN LOW LYING AREAS AND RAPID RISES IN SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. JMV
The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:16 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Rains of 2.5 to 3 inches fell in one hour. Broad Run and French Creek flooded. Water got into an apartment building and houses in St Marys. One unoccupied car was washed down French Creek. Several roads were closed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in West Virginia in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in West Virginia, August 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: 5334385.