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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 20, 2:55 PM EST, 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN ISSUED BY NWS NORTHERN INDIANA 255 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002 FORECAST PROBLEM TODAY IS SEVERE WEATHER THIS EVENING. RADAR IS LIT UP WITH TSRA THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE AREA. EXPECT THIS WEATHER TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING AS A VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE OVER SOUTHEASTERN MO MOVES NORTH OVER THE AREA. THIS WAVE IS FORECAST TO MOVE OVER THE AREA BY MIDNIGHT...EFFECTIVELY ENDING THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER. A COLD FRONT OVER ILLINOIS CONTINUES ITS GRADUAL EASTERN MOVEMENT AND IS FORECAST TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA BY 08Z. A DRY SURGE OF AIR IS FORECAST OVER THE AREA BEHIND THE FRONT SO TSRA SHOULD COME TO AN END FROM WEST TO EAST TONIGHT...FOLLOWED BY SOME CLEARING. THE LONG WAVE TROUGH...CURRENTLY OVER SOUTHERN HUDSON BAY...IS FORECAST TO MOVE VERY SLOWLY EAST THROUGH SUNDAY. AS A RESULT... THE PUSH OF COOL AND DRY AIR WILL TRICKLE INTO THE AREA AND THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF SHOWERS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. HOWEVER... COOLER AIR WILL BE OVER THE AREA THE NEXT WEEK. IT APPEARS THE AVN HAS A BETTER HANDLE ON THE TROUGH PER INITIALIZATION SO WILL TEND TO ITS SOLUTIONS. .IND...NONE. EDDY
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
222 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0218 PM 2 N FORTVILLE IN TORNADO
09/20/02 HANCOCK REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR. TORNADO ON
THE GROUND STATE ROAD 238PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
228 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0227 PM INGALLS IN TORNADO
09/20/02 MADISON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR. TORNADO ON
THE GROUND AT STATE
ROAD 13.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
234 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0227 PM 9 SW ANDERSON IN
09/20/02 MADISON TORNADO DAMAGE TO
STRUCTURES STATE ROAD
13 AND INTERSTATE 69.
REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
238 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0205 PM BEDFORD IN WIND DAMAGE
09/20/02 LAWRENCE REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
TREES DOWN COUNTYWIDE.
0220 PM 6 NW MEDORA IN WIND DAMAGE
09/20/02 JACKSON REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
TREES DOWN.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
251 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1145 AM 3 N MONROE CITY IN TORNADO DAMAGE
09/20/02 KNOX *** 1 INJ ***
TEN TO 12 HOUSES WITH
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE SOUTH
OF MONROE CITY NEAR
WILDWOOD. REPORTED BY
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
256 PM EST FRI SEP 20 2002
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0240 PM EDGEWOOD IN TORNADO DAMAGE
09/20/02 MADISON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR. POWER LINES
DOWN.
0252 PM MECHANICSBURG IN TORNADO DAMAGE
09/20/02 HENRY REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
TREES DOWNA AND
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:05 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado formed along a squall line. Two mobile homes and two barns were destroyed.
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: 5315480.