Name: Damaging Wind in Indiana, September 18, 2002
Start: 2002-09-18T18:00
End: 2002-09-18T18:00
Location: Indiana

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

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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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 18, 3:56 PM EST, 2 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 18, 3:56 PM EST, 2 hours 4 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
210 PM EST WED SEP 18 2002

SHORT TERM...
SCT SHWRS/TSTMS IN WARM SECTOR OVR MIDWST THIS AFTN...MOST NUMEROUS
OVR NRN IN. APPEARS THIS AREA ALONG WK VORT LOBE LIFTING NE ACRS NRN
IL/IN.  THIS SCT CONVECTION SHD BE ONGOING WHEN ZONES ISSUED AT
330PM.

ETA/AVN SIMILARLY INITIALIZED VORT MAX MOVG ACRS WRN MO/IA...NGM
MISSED IT. ETA MOVES THIS FEATURE ACRS OUR CWA THIS EVE WHILE AVN
WASHES IT OUT. THIS SYSTEM KICKING OFF QUITE A BIT OF CONVECTION OVR
IA/MO AND LOOKS FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE ON WATER VAPOR SO AM LEANING
TOWARD ETA SOLUTION. WITH K INDEX FCST TO BE IN THE 30S ACRS OUR
AREA OVERNIGHT, AMS SHD BE CONDUCIVE TO CONVECTION. HWVR, GIVEN
DISAGREEMENT AMONG MODELS, AM RELUCTANT TO GO WITH
LIKELY/CATEGORICAL MET POPS...AND PLAN ON INCSG GOING POPS BUT
KEEPING IN SCT CATEGORY.

DEEP SWLY FLOW WILL CONT OVR THE AREA THU AS MID LVL TROF DEEPENS
OVR SRN PLAINS AND SFC CDFNT MOVES TO MID MS VLY. WK S/WVS MOVG THRU
THIS MOIST UNSTABLE AMS CUD KICK OFF SHWRS/TSTMS, BUT, NO STRONG
FORCING EVIDENT THU SO WL KEEP POPS IN CHC CATEGORY.

UPR LOW OVR SRN PLAINS EXPECTED TO OPEN UP AND SFC CDFNT MOVE THRU
THE AREA FRI. AVN IS QUICKER WITH THIS SCENARIO AND IS MORE
CONSISTENT AND PREFERRED OVR ETA.  PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND SOME
INSTABILITY AHD OF FRONT SO EXPECTING TSTMS TO ACCOMPANY/PROCEED
FROPA. SOME SHOWERS/TSTMS MAY LINGER INTO FRI NGT OVR ERN PORTION OF
CWA, OTRWS DRIER, COOLER AMS XPCD FOR FRI NGT/SAT.

MOS TEMPS CLOSE AND REASONABLE THRU THE PERIOD...NO SGFNT CHNGS MADE.

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...
EXTENDED FOR NOW APPEARS TO BE QUIET AND DRY. MRF TRIES TO PRINT
SOME QPF ON WEDS AS 500 MB TROUGH DIGS IN. NOT CONVINCED OF THAT SETUP
AS OF YET. THEREFORE WILL KEEP DRY. OTHERWISE TEMPS WILL REMAIN
AROUND NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD.

.IWX...NONE.

JT/FISHER

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:02 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Adams

When: September 18, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Adams County, 5 mi E of Decatur
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 40.833, -84.833

Emergency management reported a shed was blown over.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Indiana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, September 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: 5315595.