National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Snow Squalls in the Northeast U.S. on Thursday; Heavy Rain Along the Gulf Coast

An arctic cold front will move through the Great Lakes and Northeast on Thursday, bringing moderate to heavy snow, strong winds, and possible whiteout conditions through Thursday afternoon. A storm system interacting with Gulf moisture will bring moderate to heavy rainfall to the western and central Gulf Coast on Thursday. Isolated instances of flash flooding will be possible. Read More >

3/19/2003 - Event Summary

At the surface, a strong area of low pressure was centered over eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas on the morning of the 19th. A stationary front extended from the low into the Ohio Valley. A strong cold front trailed from the low into northeastern Arkansas and Mississippi. Storms developed in the late morning into the early afternoon hours as the cold front pushed near and east of the I-65 corridor. Some of these as seen below produced damaging winds, hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter, and tornadoes.  

 
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March 19th, 2003 Surface Analysis at 7 AM March 19th, 2003 500 mb Analysis at 7 AM