3 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 19, 2:35 AM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes earlier.
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA 335 AM CDT THU SEP 19 2002 PRE-FRONTAL CONVECTION HAS PUSHED MUCH FARTHER E THAN EARLIER ANTICIPATED...AND 00Z MODELS WERE RUNNING A GOOD 3 HOURS SLOW WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE QPF FIELDS. SEVERE THREAT HAS BEEN ONLY MARGINAL...WITH MESONET SHOWING AN OCCASSIONAL 40-50 MPH WIND GUST ALONG THE LEADING EDGE OF THE PRECIP. CURRENT WATCH BOX WILL BE ALLOWED TO EXPIRE AT 09Z. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING WELL DEFINED MID-LEVEL CIRCULATION SPINNING OVER NE NM. STRONGEST WINDS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSLATING THE THE E SIDE OF TROF AXIS...INDICATING THAT SYSTEM IS BEGINNING TO LIFT OUT. THIS PUTS OUR FORECAST AREA IN A STRONGLY DIFFLUENT UPPER PATTERN. ONGOING CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TO SLOWLY WEAKEN THIS MORNING...BUT WITH SYNOPTIC FRONT STILL TO OUR W...MAY SEE REINTENSIFICATION OVER SE OK/WRN AR THIS AFTERNOON. GENERALLY WENT WITH CATEGORICAL POPS FOR FAR NE OK/NW AR...AND LIKELY POPS ELSEWHERE. TEMPS SHUD STAY IN THE 70S...ALTHO FAR ERN ZONES MAY WARM INTO THE LOWER 80S. WILL LIMIT THE MENTION OF THUNDER TO FAR ERN OK/WRN AR MAINLY FOR THIS EVENING. WILL KEEP MENTION OF SHOWERS FARTHER W...AS LONGWAVE TROF AXIS WILL BE VERY SLOW TO MOVE OUT. SHUD HAVE SOME LINGERING CLOUDS OVER NE SECTION OF THE FORECAST AREA INTO EARLY FRI...WITH MOST LOCATIONS BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY BY THE AFTERNOON. BOTH THE GFS AND 84HR ETAX LOWER MID-LEVEL HEIGHTS OVER CNTRL/NRN PLAINS INTO THE WEEKEND AS A RATHER BROAD TROF DROPS SWD FROM CANADA. THIS WILL BRING ANOTHER COLD FRONT INTO THE AREA BY SAT NIGHT. FMR GUIDANCE LOOKS TOO COOL...BUT WILL LOWER HIGHS SUN AND LOWS SUN NIGHT. NO CHANGES MADE TO FORECAST FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. PRELIM NUMBERS... TUL 75 58 75 58 / 70 20 10 0 FSM 82 62 78 56 / 70 50 10 0 MLC 80 58 78 55 / 70 20 10 0 BVO 75 57 75 55 / 70 20 10 0 FYV 80 60 72 52 / 90 50 10 0 BYV 78 60 71 56 / 90 50 10 0 MIO 74 58 73 53 / 90 50 10 0 MKO 76 59 76 57 / 70 20 10 0 F10 76 58 77 56 / 70 20 10 0 HHW 82 60 79 57 / 70 50 10 0 FORECAST ID = 18 .TSA... AR...NONE. OK...NONE.
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-201100- EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 600 AM CDT THU SEP 19 2002 ...THERE IS A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS PARTS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS... A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SLOWLY EAST ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TODAY AND THIS EVENING. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE OCCURRED ACROSS THE AREA AHEAD OF THIS FRONT DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. BY 4 PM...THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE LIMITED TO AREAS EAST AND SOUTH OF A MIAMI TO MUSKOGEE TO MCALESTER LINE. DAMAGING WINDS AND DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREATS. AFTER 10 PM...THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE EAST OF THE AREA. .SPOTTER ACTIVATION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF A MIAMI TO MUSKOGEE TO MCALESTER LINE. .DISCUSSION... A POWERFUL UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL MOVE OUT OF THE ROCKIES INTO THE PLAINS TODAY. THIS UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM COUPLED WITH A COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. THE ATMOSPHERE ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA HAS BEEN WORKED OVER BY PREVIOUS AND ONGOING THUNDERSTORMS. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED THIS MORNING. SHOULD THE ATMOSPHERE AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT BE ABLE TO RECHARGE THIS AFTERNOON STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE COLD FRONT. THE COLD FRONT WILL LIKELY BE NEAR A MIAMI TO MUSKOGEE TO MCALESTER TO DURANT LINE AT 4 PM. THE FRONT WILL MOVE EAST OUT OF NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AROUND 10 PM. THREAT TABLE VALID THROUGH 1200 UTC FRIDAY AREA 1...TO THE EAST AND SOUTH OF A MIAMI TO MUSKOGEE TO MACLESTER LINE. THUNDERSTORM PROBABILITY...100 SEVERE PROBABILITY IF STORMS OCCUR...50 SIGNIFICANT SEVERE PROBABILITY IF STORMS OCCUR...20 THREAT AREAS DEFINE GREATEST RISK. PROBABILITIES ARE IN PERCENT. SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER IS DEFINED AS F1 OR GREATER WIND/TORNADO DAMAGE AND/OR GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL OR LARGER. RELATED GRAPHICAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT... WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 11 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:50 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down several trees and knocked power lines down. Up to 6300 residences in Fort Smith lost power.
Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down a few trees along Interstate 40 near the Crawford county line.
Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down a few trees.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, September 2002
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: 5320545, 5320546, 5320547.