Thunderstorms over northwest Iowa weakened for a period of time during the mid afternoon hours as the storms transitioned from hail producers to wind producers. Winds approaching 50 MPH swept across Emmet County, knocking down trees and power lines.
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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 DMX wrote it up.
Thunderstorms over northwest Iowa weakened for a period of time during the mid afternoon hours as the storms transitioned from hail producers to wind producers. Winds approaching 50 MPH swept across Emmet County, knocking down trees and power lines. The heaviest damage occurred south of Wallingford.
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 Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 12:10 PM CST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 110 PM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002 MAIN CONCERN IN SHORT TERM IS DVLPG SVR WX AND HOW LONG IT WILL LAST THEN SECOND ROUND WITH COLD FNT. ALL MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT ON INTENSE SFC LO DVLOP CNTRL PLAINS DEEPENING AND MOVING NEWRD WITH SHARP S/W TROF MOVG OUT OF PACIFIC NW AIDED BY DECENT JET ALG CANADIAN /U.S. BORDER. AVN LOOKS BEST ON POSITION OF SFC LO AND UPPER S/W TROF THIS MRNG. LINE HAS DVLPD IN STG THETA E ADVCTN ZN. HWVR ATTM LN STRUGGLING TO PENTRATE MUCH DRIER CAPPED AIR IN MUCH OF IA. LTST RUNS OF AVN/MESOETA SHOW TRENDS OF DYING OUT THIS ROUND OF PCPN THEN DVLPG STG SQUALL LINE AFT MIDN WITH HIGH POTENTIAL FOR WIND DAMAGE. ALL DYNAMICAL FIELDS STG THO BRF TIME FRAME PASSING THROUGH AREA MORE TYPICAL OF FALL SYSTEM. AFTER TNGT LINGERING SHWRS IN SERN CWA THEN FAIR WEATHER UNTIL ERY NXT WEEK. SECOND HALF OF NXT WEEK HAS SERIES OF FAIRLY STG SYSTEM MOVG THROUGH FAST FLOW. VERY ACTIVE PATTERN EVEN FOR SECOND HALF OF AUGUST. GUID TEMPS LOOK GD AS PASSAGE OF COLD FRNT BRINGS DECENT THCKNS FALLS. SOME ADJSTMNTS NEEDED FOR LCL EFFECTS. .DSM...NONE FORSTER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
304 PM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0255 PM ODEBOLT IA .88 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 SAC REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
347 PM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0338 PM 3 S MANNING IA 1 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 CARROLL REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0342 PM 3 S MANNING IA 1 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 CARROLL REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, August 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: 5306921.