1 tornado, 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 Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 29, 2:56 PM MST, 1 hour 54 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST IDAHO/SOUTHEAST OREGON AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE IDAHO 355 PM SUN SEP 29 2002 UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE TROUGH OVER CENTRAL WA/ORE AT 21Z WITH ASSOCIATED SURFACE COLD FRONT FROM NORTH CENTRAL ID MOUNTAINS THROUGH BKE COUNTY TO MALHEUR/HARNEY COUNTY BORDER. FRONT TO CROSS SOUTHWEST ID ZONES TONIGHT WITH POST-FRONTAL WINDS IN MALHEUR COUNTY 20-30 MPH SPREADING ACROSS CWFA WITH FRONTAL BAND WITH LOCAL BLOWING DUST WITH SOME REDUCED VISIBILITIES. WIND SPEEDS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS AND SLOWLY BEGIN DECREASING LATER TONIGHT AS FRONT AND 1ST S/WV MOVES EAST OF CWFA. SNOW LEVELS LOWERING WITH THIS FRONTAL PASSAGE TO 5-6K BY MON MORNING THOUGH MOISTURE LIMITED WITH THIS SYSTEM FOR ONLY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND LITTLE ACCUMULATION. 2ND S/WV OFFSHORE WA THIS AFTERNOON DIGS SOUTHEAST THROUGH WA/ORE MON DEEPENING MAIN UPPER TROUGH OVER CWFA MON NIGHT/TUE TO CLOSED LOW CENTER MOVING INTO GREAT BASIN. THIS DEEPENING KEEPS CHANCE POPS OVER CWFA MON/MON NIGHT WITH SNOW LEVELS CONTINUING TO LOWER TO AROUND 4.5K NORTH AND 5.5K SOUTH BY TUE MORNING. STILL ACCUMULATIONS LIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE NOSES OVER INTO NORTHERN ZONES TUE NIGHT/WED FOR DRYING TREND BUT STILL LOW POPS SOUTHEAST ZONES DUE TO STORM SYSTEM IN GREAT BASIN. COLDEST AIR MASS OVER CWFA TUE/WED FOR THREAT OF PATCHY MORNING FROST SOUTHWEST ID AG VALLEYS. OVERNIGHT CLOUDS/ WINDS COULD KEEP SOME MIXING IN PLACE TO MIN TEMPS WED MORNING ABOVE FREEZING AND WILL HOLD OFF FROST WATCH AT THIS TIME. IN EXTENDED PERIOD L/WV HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE AROUND 135-140W AND L/WV LOW PRESSURE TROUGH OVER ROCKIES KEEPS STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER REGION THROUGH END OF WEEK. EXTENDED MODELS AGREE IN DIGGING S/WV EMBEDDED IN THIS NORTHWESTERLY FLOW INTO NORTHERN INTERMOUNTAIN REGION WED AND THROUGH CWFA WED NIGHT/THU FOLLOWED BY 2ND S/WV FRI FOR CHANCE OF SHOWERS THU/FRI. SOME DRYING SAT BEFORE INCREASING CLOUDS FROM NEXT PACIFIC S/WV ARRIVE SUN. PARKER .BOI...NONE.
IDZ012-014-016-ORZ064-301115- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 410 PM MDT SUN SEP 29 2002 ...POSSIBLE VALLEY FROST TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS... A COLD AIR MASS WILL SETTLE OVER SOUTHWEST IDAHO EARLY THIS WEEK BRINGING THE FIRST THREAT OF FROST TO THE SOUTHWEST IDAHO VALLEYS THIS FALL. OVERNIGHT CLOUDS AND SOME WINDS MONDAY NIGHT WILL KEEP MOST VALLEY LOCATIONS IN THE 30S THOUGH WIND SHELTERED LOCATIONS COULD SEE LOW TEMPERATURES AROUND 30 DEGREES. TUESDAY NIGHT CLOUDS WILL BE DECREASING BUT SOME WINDS WILL CONTINUE. WEDNESDAY MORNING MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WILL AGAIN BE IN THE 30S. BUT IF THE OVERNIGHT WINDS DECREASE MORE THAN EXPECTED THE THREAT OF UPPER 20 DEGREE TEMPERATURES IN SOME OF THE COLDER VALLEY LOCATIONS IS POSSIBLE. MORNING TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN IN THE 30S THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.
The Boise radar (KCBX), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:52 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down at Tom's Cabin Road, west of Emmett, in Gem County. It tracked eastward on the ground for a mile, ripping limbs off trees, destroying an outbuilding and damaging houses and a vehicle.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Idaho, 2002Warnings in Idaho, 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: 5320874.