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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 9, 1:00 PM CST, 7 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 200 PM CDT TUE JUL 9 2002 PRIMARY FORECAST FOCUS IS ON 2 MAIN SYSTEMS...SURFACE FRONT PUSHING SOUTH ACROSS IL AND UPPER LOW PROGRESSING ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL U.S. AND SOUTHERN CANADA. EARLY AFTERNOON SURFACE OBSERVATIONS INDICATED FRONT HAD PROGRESSED TO SOUTH OF A QUINCY...PEORIA IL LINE. FRONT REMAINED DRY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON BUT EXPECT THAT TO CHANGE WITH BENEFIT OF AFTERNOON HEATING AND ADEQUATE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE. FURTHER SOUTH INTO OUR FA...TSTM CHANCE INCREASE STILL LOOKS REASONABLE FOR TONIGHT GIVEN APPROACHING FRONT AND OVERALL INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE (E.G. 850 MB DEWPOINT INCREASE OF ABOUT 10C LAST 24 HOURS OVER WEST PART OF FA). IT IS DIFFICULT TO FIND A CLEAR BREAK IN TSTM CHANCES BETWEEN THE SURFACE FRONT AND THE UPPER WAVE THAT WILL BE MOVING SE TOWARD THE FA. IN ADDITION...THE 500MB SE FLOW WILL LIKELY YIELD ONE OR MORE WEAK WAVES AHEAD OF THE MAIN UPPER WAVE. THIS MUDDIED PATTERN IS REFLECTED IN THE LATEST MAV GUIDANCE WHICH PRODUCES CHANCE POPS IN THE NE PART OF THE FA AND LIKELY POPS IN SEMO ON THURSDAY. WILL HOLD POPS OUT OF THE NE ON THU WHERE DRIER AIR WILL BE MORE DOMINANT...BUT WILL GO WITH CHANCE POPS ACROSS SEMO/SW IL AND AT LEAST FAR WEST KY. THE OPEN WAVE WILL BE REPLACED BY A STRONG 500MB HIGH WHICH BUILDS INTO THE FA THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH END RESULT BEING DRY AND INCREASINGLY HOT WEATHER. MOS VALUES LOOK FINE OVERALL. .PAH...NONE. SHANKLIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike caused a grass fire. Heavy rain following the initial lightning extinguished the fire.
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, July 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: 5302185.