1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 9:29 AM CST, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 1029 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002 BAND OF HIGH BASED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED TSRA IN FAR NORTHERN CWA ALONG MID LEVEL FRONT SHOULD CONTINUE TO PUSH NORTHEAST OUT OF THE CWA WITHIN THE HOUR. SECOND AREA OF TSRA DEVELOPING IN SOUTHWEST CWA AHEAD OF 850MB WARM FRONT/MOISTURE PUSH...WITH ADDITIONAL CLOUD DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. THIS ACTIVITY WILL LIFT TO THE NORTHEAST AS THE 850MB WARM FRONT SURGES NORTH LATE THIS MORNING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON...AND HAVE UPDATED ZONES TO ACCOUNT FOR A CHANCE OF TSRA AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE...A LITTLE EARLIER THAN THE EARLY MORNING FORECAST INDICATED. MAY SEE SOME ISOLATED PENNY TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS ON THE NORTH EDGE OF THE 850MB WARM FRONT...BUT BEST MID LEVEL INSTABILITY REMAINS SOUTHWEST OF OUR AREA OVER CENTRAL NEBRASKA THROUGH MID AFTERNOON. LOOKING AT FORECAST SOUNDINGS FROM THE 12Z MESOETA...IT APPEARS THAT THIS QUICK SURGE OF WARM AIR AT 850MB WILL SERVE TO CAP OFF ANY ATTEMPT AT SURFACE BASED CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON...LIMITING THE THREAT OF TORNADIC ACTIVITY TO AREAS NORTH OF US...MAYBE CLIPPING FAR NORTHERN COUNTIES. WILL NOT CHANGE MUCH IN SIG WX OTLK...AS BEST SEVERE THREAT STILL APPEARS TO BE POTENTIAL FOR WIND EVENT OVERNIGHT. .FSD...NONE
SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 1100 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002 *** THIS SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
1103 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1102 AM 6 W TRIPP SD .88 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 HUTCHINSON REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
1234 PM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1100 AM 6 SE MITCHELL SD .75 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 DAVISON REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
1152 AM LESTERVILLE SD 1.75 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 YANKTON REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
1218 PM MARTINSBURG NE .75 INCH HAIL
08/16/02 DIXON REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.The Omaha radar (KOAX), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:01 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a power pole and blew a transformer, causing a power outage.
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: 5317528.