Name: Tornado in Illinois, May 1, 2002
Start: 2002-05-01T13:10
End: 2002-05-01T13:22
Location: Illinois

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: 1

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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 1, 3:00 AM CST, 10 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 3:00 AM CST, 10 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
400 AM CDT WED MAY 1 2002

CONCERNS FOR THIS FCST PD...

MDT RISK SVR TSTMS OVR MOST OF CWA TDA/THIS EVE
HVY PCPN
TEMP FCSTS
FOG

SFC LOW NOW OVR NRN OK FCST TO DPN AND LIFT NEWD ACRS E CNTRL MO
THIS AFTN AND INTO IN TNGT.  MODELS STILL DIVERGE AS TO LOCATION OF
SFC LOW CNTR AS IT LIFTS ENEWD TWD INDIANA TNGT. ETA STILL FURTHEST
SOUTH AND NGM/AVN STILL HOLDING IT FURTHER N. PROB IS THAT DENSE FOG
HAS FORMED N OF WRM FNT ACRS SRN THIRD MO.

SGFNT SVR WX FCST TO DVLP NR SFC LO AND ALG/NR WRM FRONTAL
BOUNDARY.  SPC HAS OUTLOOKED MOST OF CWA IN MDT RISK FOR TDA AND
TNGT.  THIS FOG DVLPMT HAS COMPLICATED MATTERS AS ELY FLOW N OF LOW
WL TEND TO HOLD IT IN AND MID/HI CLDS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP OVR WRN
MO OVERHEAD TO EXASTERBATE THE PROBLEM. CURRENT PRES FALLS STILL IN
OK NEAR LOW AS IT BEGINS TO DEEPEN SLOWLY.

MODELS ALL DVLP PCPN IN COLD AIR OVR NRN MO/CNTRL IL TDA AND THIS EVE
BUT DO LITTLE IN THE WARM AIR...HWVER COND WILL CONTINUE TO HEAT UP
AND DEVELOP W/TIME TDA. HAVE OPTED TO FOLLOW AVN MODEL AGAIN TODAY
AND ALLOW WRM FNT TO LIFT NWD AS LOW DEEPENS NEWD.  PROB IS WHAT TO
DO WITH FOG/LOW CLDS N OF LOW.  LOOKS LIKE THIS MAY LIFT NWD INTO E
CNTRL MO/SRN IL FOR AWHILE THIS MRNG. HV MODIFIED TEMPS DOWN A BIT
DUE TO COLD AIR PLACEMENT AND THE EWD ORIENTATION OF LLJ.

OFFICE HAS SET UP A STAFFING PATTERN FOR SGFNT SVR WX EPISODE THIS
AFTN/EVE.

NEXT THING IS HVY PCPN. FLOOD GUIDANCE LESS THAN 2 INCHES IN MOST
AREAS AND 1.00 TO 1.50 IN MANY PLACES...PCPBL WATER TOTALS ARE
UNSEASONABLY HIGH HWVR CELL MVMTS WILL BE RAPID AND LOCATION STILL
IN DOUBT...SO WILL MENT LOCALLY HEAVY AMOUTS IN IL ZONES BUT NO
HIGHLIGHTS FOR FLOODING.

STILL IN A QUANDRY ABOUT TEMPS...60S NORTH...FOG MAY HOLD AREAS
ALG/NR I-70 AROUND 70 DEG WITH WELL INTO 80S SOUTH.  IF LOW TREKS
ALG AVN  FCST GUIDELINES LOOK FOR SKIES TO CLEAR AND TEMPS TO JUMP
QUICKLY.

FOG....WL MENT DENSE FOG OVR SRN ZONES THIS MRNG BUT NOT ISSUE AN
ADVISORY AS DAYLIGHT WILL ALLOW FOR BETTER DRIVING VISIBILITIES
QUICKLY.

.STL...NONE

PEDIGO

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Marion

When: May 1, 1:10 PM CST to 1:22 PM CST
Where: Marion County, 7 mi W of Kinmundy
Rating: F1
Path length: 7 mi
Path width: 40 yd
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 38.767, -88.967

Three tornadoes caused damage near Kinmundy. The first tornado caused considerable damage to a 2 story structure near the intersection of Highway 37 and Kinoka Road. The roof and 2 walls of the structure were thrown across Highway 37 into the woods. There was also tree and power line damage along the path.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Illinois in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Illinois, 2002 Warnings in Illinois, May 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: 5292089.