1 flood, 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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 20, 3:00 PM EST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 300 PM EST FRI DEC 20 2002 FORECAST CHALLENGE IS PRECIP ON SATURDAY NITE. CURRENTLY...CLOSED UPPER LOW SLOWLY SPINS OFF TO THE EAST OVER THE NEXT 12-24 HOURS. NOTHING MORE THAN SOME CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM AND WILL LEAVE OUT ANY MENTION OF PCPN. NEXT CHANCE OF PRECIP BEGINS ON SAT NITE AS SHORT WAVE QUICKLY MOVES FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST THROUGH THE CWA. PRECIP TYPE WILL BE AN ISSUE AS FORECASTED H85 TEMPS ARENT BELOW 0C AT THE ONSET OF PRECIP AND ONLY GO BELOW ZERO SHORTLY BEFORE IT ENDS. LLVL THKNS (1000-850) STAY ABOVE CRITICAL VALUES AT ONSET THEN CHANGEOVER TOWARD ENDING. WILL KEEP CURRENT RAIN/SNOW IN FORECAST AND REFINE AS TIME GETS CLOSER. AFTER SATURDAY NIGHT NOT MUCH PRECIP EXPECTED UNTIL TUES NITE. GFS SHOWS PRETTY STRONG SYSTEM BUT WILL WAIT FOR FURTHER RUNS TO DECIDE ON AMOUNTS ETC. WENT TOWARD MAV FOR TEMPS/POPS AS MET HAS TRENDED TOO FAR OFF FROM REALITY. .IND...NONE. SALLY
INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-211100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 240 PM EST FRI DEC 20 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH FRIDAY ON SATURDAY NIGHT A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BRING A CHANCE OF SNOW OR RAIN TO CENTRAL INDIANA. ON TUESDAY NIGHT ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO BRING SNOW TO CENTRAL INDIANA. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE UNCERTAIN AT THIS TIME. THE TRACK OF THIS SURFACE LOW WILL GREATLY INFLUENCE THE AMOUNT OF SNOWFALL AN AREA WILL RECEIVE. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/IND FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS UPCOMING WINTER WEATHER SITUATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WINTER SPOTTERS WILL BE ACTIVATED AS ANY SNOWFALL EVENT UNFOLDS. PLEASE REPORT YOUR SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN INDIANAPOLIS. SALLY
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding of lowlands along the East Fork White River. The river crested at 12.42 feet where the flood stage is 12.0 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, December 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: 5326900.