A tornado formed along a squall line in Pike county then moved across Knox and into Daviess counties. A few homes were destroyed in Knox county and several were damaged.
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 episode as NWS IND wrote it up.
A tornado formed along a squall line in Pike county then moved across Knox and into Daviess counties. A few homes were destroyed in Knox county and several were damaged. A conservation officer in his vehicle was thrown an eighth of a mile by the tornado.
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 Sep 20, 3:05 AM EST, 8 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 305 AM EST FRI SEP 20 2002 TIMING OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT AND TEMPS IN MOST OTHER PERIODS ARE THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEMS. SHOWERS HAVE CONTINUED THE NIGHT OVER AT LEAST THE WEST 2/3 OF OUR FORECAST AREA. RADAR SATELLITE AND WX DEPICTION AT 07Z SHOWS MORE NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG AND JUST WEST OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER. CD FNT WAS OVER ERN IOWA AND CENTRAL MISSOURI. MODELS ARE IN IN GOOD AGREEMENT MOVG CD FNT TO JUST EAST OF A KFWA-KIND LN BY 00Z AND TO ERN KENTUCKY BY 12Z SATURDAY. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BECOME MORE NUMEROUS THIS AFTN AS CD FNT MOVS THRU. ETA CAPES ABOUT 1100 J/KG THIS AFTN AND WINDS AT 850 ABOUT 40-50 KNOTS WHICH AGREES WITH SPC SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. PRECIPITABLE WATER ALSO JUST OVER 2 INCHES AND SOME AREAS COULD SEE POSSIBLY AN INCH OR TWO OF RAIN TODAY. AFTER THIS EVENING DRY AND COOLER WEATHER WILL BE THE RULE THROUGH THE NEXT WEEK. MODELS SHOW A DRY SECONDARY CD FNT MOVG ACROSS OUR AREA DURING THE DAY SATURDAY AND MRF SHOWS MAIN S/W MOVG THROUGH SUNDAY AND AGAIN BY THURSDAY. BOTH HAVE LIMITED RH TO WORK WITH...SO WILL KEEP FORECAST DRY. WILL GO WITH A BLEND OF FWC/MAV TEMPS NEXT FEW DAYS. .IND...NONE. HENDRICKSON
INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-201400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 635 AM EST FRI SEP 20 2002 ...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL INDIANA THIS AFTERNOON AND ACROSS EAST CENTRAL INDIANA INTO THIS EVENING... A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH CENTRAL INDIANA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS BY AFTERNOON. ABUNDANT MOISTURE AND STRONG WINDS IN THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE FROM DAMAGING WINDS. IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREAT...HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE TODAY WITH ISOLATED AREAS RECEIVING A COUPLE OF INCHES. THIS IS A PRELIMINARY OUTLOOK. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...OR YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL MEDIA...FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS WEATHER SITUATION. SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE LATER TODAY. HENDRICKSON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
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: 5315469, 5315470.