1 lightning, 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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 23, 3:12 AM CST, 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 400 AM CDT THU AUG 22 2002 HV OPTED TO HOLD ONTO FLOOD WATCH FOR NRN COUNTIES OF CWA AS ORIGINALLY ISSUED. TSTMS WERE SLOW TO EVOLVE TO LOWER LATITUDES EARLIER TNGT BUT THEY HAVE SETTLED INTO THIS CWA WITH A COUPLE OF LINES ALREADY IN PLACE TO SLIDE THRU AREA AND MORE PSBL TWD MRNG. UNUSUAL FCST SEQUENCE PICKED UP BY MODELS AS UPPER LOW CLOSES OFF TO SE OF CWA AND RDG BLDS TO W. PCPN TO N WILL CONTINUE TO SAG THIS MRNG AND ACTIVITY THAT ENTERS CWA WILL HAVE WITH IT HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES AND GOOD CHC OF TRAINING SO AS IT DIMINISHES OVER NRN PTN CWA THIS MRNG LOOK FOR POTENTIAL OF TRAINING AND PCPN ISSUES TO MAX OUT THIS MRNG...THEN DIMINISH WITH MRNG HRS. OUTFLOWS FM THIS MRNG WL SETTLE ACTIVITY FURTHER SOUTH WITH SERN HALF BEST BET FOR TNGT. AFTER THAT IT LOOKS LIKE TROF TO SOUTHEAST WILL SETTLE THINGS DOWN A BIT. CLDS FRM TNGTS ACTIVITY SHOULD BE LENGTHY ENOUGH TO KEEP ST LOUIS FROM REACHING HEAT ADVISORY LEVELS. .STL...FLOOD WATCH CONTINUED FOR THIS MRNG ILZ095>097-MOZ018-019-026-027-034>036- PEDIGO
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 150 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:57 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lighting strike started a fire which destroyed St. John's Episcopal Church, the oldest church in Quincy. It is believed lightning struck the roof of the historic structure, built in 1877, starting the fire that quickly spread through the rest of the building.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, August 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: 5314139.