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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 12, 2:18 AM EST, 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 218 AM EST SUN MAY 12 2002 FRONT LOOKS TO BE ALONG A KGUS TO KAOH LINE AND SHOULD PROGRESS NORTH INTO EARLY AFTERNOON BEFORE SFC LOW MOVES ACROSS CWA AND BRINGS FRONT BACK SOUTH LAT TODAY. ALL INGREDIENTS IN PLACE FOR HEAVY RAINFALL WITH ETA/AVN IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT ON QPF OVER AN INCH TODAY POSSIBLY OVER 2 INCHES LOCALLY AND WILL KEEP FFA GOING. ANY SVR THREAT LOOKS TO BE IN SRN CWA BUT WITH FLOOD POTENTIAL WILL NOT HIGHLITE IN ZONES. FRONT MOVES SOUTH TNGT BUT ANOTHER WAVE COMES OUT OF SRN PLAINS ALONG FRONT. PREVIOUS FCST MAY HAVE POPS A BIT HIGH BASED ON FRONTAL POSITION AND NEW RUNS BUT NOT ENOUGH CERTAINTY TO MAKE ANY CHANGES. WILL KEEP SLGT CHC POPS SE MONDAY MORNING OTHERWISE CLOUDY AND COOL. BOTH ETA AND AVN NOW HAVE STRONG SHRTWV COMING DOWN BACKSIDE OF ERN LAKES CLOSED LOW MONDAY NITE INTO TUE. WILL ADD LOW CHC POPS WITH THIS FOR MONDAY NITE. BEST LIFT WITH THIS MAY MOVE SE OF CWA TUE MORNING BUT WITH 500MB TMPS OF -27C AND SOME SUNSHINE TUE EXPECT INSTABILITY SHOWERS TO POP WITH LEFTOVER LLVL MOISTURE. MAX TMPS AGAIN WILL BE TOUGH TODAY. WENT WITH MAVS FOR TODAY AS FRONT SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET CLOSE TO MI BORDER AS SFC LOW APPROACHES. MDLS CLOSE AND BLENDED LATER PERIODS. EXTENDED DISCUSSION HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTROL THE REGION FOR WEDS...BRINGING A CHC FOR THE GROUND TO DRY. DRYING WILL BE SHORT LIVED AS ANOTHER FRONT DROPS OUT OF THE PLAINS TO BRING PCPN CHCS INTO THE WEEKEND. MRF/ECMWF CONTINUE TO DISAGREE ON POSITION OF UPPER LEVEL SYSTEMS AND SFC FRONT ON THURSDAY. AVN 120 HRS WOULD POINT TOWARDS PCPN BY THURS AFTN...WHILE ECMWF WOULD INDICATE DRY CONDITIONS. WILL LEAVE PCPN OUT OF THURS FOR NOW. FRI/SAT LOOK LIKE DECENT CHC OF -TSRA AS FRONT DROPS INTO AREA...WITH BEST CHC SATURDAY. AGAIN...NO CHANGES. .IWX...FLOOD WATCH TODAY ENTIRE CWFA. RES/FISHER
The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a dairy barn in Wakarusa causing a fire that destroyed it. Seven horses and 13 cows were killed.
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, May 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: 5290479.