1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Sep 20, 9:25 AM CST, 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1025 AM CDT FRI SEP 20 2002 WILL LOWER HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR OUR WESTERN ZONES...INCLUDING SE MISSOURI. CURRENT READINGS IN THE MID 60S...AND WITHOUT SUN...AND RAIN LASTING THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON...RUC SHOWS IT BARELY MAKING 70. MEANWHILE...NEAR 80 IN THE EAST LOOKS REASONABLE. OTHERWISE...ONLY COSMETIC TWEAKS FOR THE FIRST PERIOD. .PAH...NONE. NOLES
ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-201700- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 256 AM CDT FRI SEP 20 2002 ...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA... HAZARDS... THERE WILL BE PERIODS OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY...WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE STORMS EAST OF A LINE FROM...SIKESTON...THROUGH CARBONDALE ...TO MOUNT VERNON ILLINOIS. DISCUSSION... A COLD FRONT WAS POISED JUST WEST OF THE QUAD STATE AND SHOULD BE NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BY NOON TODAY. A STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW AHEAD OF THE FRONT WILL USHER IN ABUNDANT GULF MOISTURE. THIS WILL PROVIDE FOR HEAVY RAIN WITH SOME OF THE STORMS. IT WILL ALSO PROVIDE FOR EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER. THIS WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM SOARING...WHICH WILL LIMIT THE INSTABILITY. HOWEVER...WINDS ALOFT WILL BE QUITE STRONG AND COULD TRANSLATE DOWN TO THE SURFACE VIA MATURE THUNDERSTORMS. THEREFORE...THE MAIN THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER TODAY WILL BE IN THE FORM OF DAMAGING WINDS. TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL RELATIVELY WARM...WITH THE FREEZING LEVEL ABOVE THIRTEEN THOUSAND FEET...THUS DAMAGING HAIL WILL NOT BE COMMON...BUT WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE MOST INTENSE STORMS. SPOTTER ACTIVATION... ORGANIZED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY THIS AFTERNOON...THEREFORE SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED. OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY... SUNNY AND PLEASANT CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RETURN FOR THE WEEKEND.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief touchdown was reported in rural farm country southwest of Mount Vernon. No damage was found. The parent thunderstorm later produced a stronger tornado near Poseyville in northern Posey County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Indiana, 2002Warnings in Indiana, September 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: 5316644.