Name: Dust Storm and Damaging Wind in Arizona, August 18, 2002
Start: 2002-08-18T21:45
End: 2002-08-18T22:00
Location: Arizona

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Phoenix, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 18, 9:13 PM MST, 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 18, 9:13 PM MST, 32 minutes before

AZZ020>028-CAZ030>033-191045-

SOUTHWEST ARIZONA/SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
913 PM MST SUN AUG 18 2002

.SYNOPSIS...
HIGH PRESSURE OVER NORTHERN ARIZONA WILL SHIFT EAST AS LOW PRESSURE
ALOFT BEGINS TO DEVELOP ALONG THE WEST COAST EARLY THIS WEEK. THIS
WILL RESULT IN A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA...
WHILE FAR SOUTHWEST ARIZONA AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA WILL REMAIN IN
A DRIER SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW. HENCE...WE CAN LOOK FOR A GREATER CHANCE
FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA BY TUESDAY.
TEMPERATURES WILL GRADUALLY LOWER SOME THIS WEEK AS THE WEST COAST
LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DEVELOPS FURTHER.

.DISCUSSION...
MORE CONVECTION ON HIGHER TERRAIN TO THE E THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
EVENING HAS LED TO MORE MAKING ITS WAY TO THE LOWER ELEVATIONS THIS
EVENING ON NELY STEERING FLOW. TSTMS MOVING OFF THE HIGHER TERRAIN
OF AZ ZONE 24 TOWARDS THE PHX METRO AREA HAVE BEEN HOLDING TOGETHER
...WITH OUTFLOW FROM STORMS TO THE S SEEN MOVING TOWARDS THE STORMS
NEAR APACHE JUNCTION. NOWCASTS HAVE BEEN ISSUED ABOUT POSSIBLE GUSTY
WIND AND BLOWING DUST DUE TO THESE FEATURES. WILL CLOSELY WATCH FOR
THE INTERSECTION OF OUTFLOW COMING UP FROM THE S AND STORMS COMING
IN FROM THE E. OVERALL...WIND REGIME IS NOT ONE TO SUPPORT SEVERE
WEATHER...BUT STEERING WIND APPEARS TO HAVE INCREASED FROM EARLIER
IN THE DAY. MODEL SOUNDINGS SUGGEST AN INCREASE IN MOISTURE THROUGH
TUE...AS FLOW BECOMES SLY. THIS SHOULD LEAD TO AN UPRAMP IN TSTM
ACTIVITY OVER MARICOPA COUNTY AND POINTS TO E FOR AT LEAST MON AND
TUE AS VORTICITY IMPULSES WILL ADD FORCING TO THE EQUATION AS THEY
ARE PULLED NEWD ACROSS A RATHER TIGHT MOISTURE GRADIENT. ETA AND AVN
BOTH SHOW THE DEVELOPING ERN PAC TROF MOVING INLAND THIS WEEK WITH
DRIER AIR MOVING IN BY MID-WEEK. ETA DRIES THINGS A BIT FASTER THAN
DOES THE AVN. IF MODELS ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK...WE WILL BE SOMEWHAT
OVER-FORECAST ON THE EXTENT OF STORMS THIS WEEK. WILL LEAVE AS IS
FOR NOW...BUT WE WILL HAVE TO WATCH THIS POSSIBLE DRYING TREND AS
THE TROF MOVES IN.  WILT

.PSR...NONE.

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:54 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 dust storm, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Dust Storm, Sw Yuma

When: August 18, 9:45 PM MST to 10:00 PM MST
Where: Sw Yuma forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Dense blowing dust lowered visibility to less than a quarter mile.

Thunderstorm Wind, Pinal

When: August 18, 9:55 PM MST to 10:00 PM MST
Where: Pinal County, 10 mi NW of Florence
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 33.133, -111.500

Measured winds of 57 mph at the Magma Dam automatic station.

What these are

Dust Storm: Blowing dust that reduced visibility to a quarter mile or less.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arizona in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, August 2002

Sources

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: 5312645, 5312644.