2 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 funnel cloud, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 21, 12:51 PM CST, 2 hours 9 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 151 PM CDT WED AUG 21 2002 SYNOPSIS... MORNING UA AND SURFACE ANALISIS SHOWS THE AREA IS NOW IN THE WARM AND MOIST SECTOR. THE SURFACE WARM FRONT AT 15Z EXTENDS FROM NEAR FSD TO ALO TO VYS. WELL DEFINED SHORT WAVE JUST WEST OF MCI AT 12Z...NOW APPROACHING THE UPPER MIDWEST FROM THE SOUTHWEST. THIS WAVE HAS SPAWNED OVERNIGHT CONVECTION FROM KANSAS THROUGH NORTHWEST IOWA. MUCH OF THIS IS NOW DECAYING AS EXPECTED...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF PORTION NEAR MCI. THIS WILL BE THE CONVECTIVE CLUSTER TO WATCH AS IT APPROACHES THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. CIRRUS AND DEBRIS CLOUDS CONTINUE TO SLOWLY THIN NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80...WITH MODERATED INSOLATION ALREADY IN PLACE SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE. THIS WILL ALLOW ADEQUATE HEATING FOR STORMS TO INTENSIFY IN OUR AREA THIS AFTERNOON. SHORT TERM... SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL MAINLY AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING...WITH HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED LATE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. PWAT VALUES IN EXCESS OF TWO INCHES NOTED ON THE OMA 12Z SOUNDING AND NEAR 2 INCHES ON 18Z DVN SOUNDING...SHOW TROPICAL AIRMASS OVER THE REGION. DESPITE MODEL DIFFERENCES...ALL SHORT TERM MODELS INDICATE DIFFLUENT THICKNESS OVER THE CWA TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. TRAINING CELLS APPEAR TO BE LIKELY GIVEN NEARY STATIONARY BOUNDARY OVER THE CWA. ALL THIS SAID... COUNTY FFG GUIDANCE VALUES ARE RUNNING RATHER HIGH AND CROPS ARE MATURE. THEREFORE I FEEL WIDESPREAD FLOODING PROBLEMS DO NOT WARRANT A FLOOD WATCH AT THIS TIME. URBAN FLOODING MAY BECOME AN ISSUE...IF STORMS PICK ON ONE AREA REPEATEDLY. THE FRONT BECOMES QUASI-STATIONARY THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...WITH SEVERAL ROUNDS OF HEAVY RAIN AND THUNDESTORMS EXPECTED THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. IF HEAVY RAIN DOES MATERIALIZE TONIGHT...A FLOOD WATCH MAY BE NEEDED FOR THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY FOR AREAS THAT RECIEVE HEAVY RAIN TONIGHT. EXTENDED... NO MAJOR CHANGES EXPECTED IN EXTENDED AS CANADIAN HIGH SETTLES SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA FOR SEVERAL DAYS OF PLEASANT WEATHER. MRF AND UKMET CONTINUE TO INDICATE A LOBE UPPER LEVEL VORTICITY WORKING SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA MONDAY. FOR NOW...I WILL NOT CHANGES THE GOING FORECAST...BUT SHOWERS MAY NEED TO BE ADDED IF THIS FEATURE MOVES OVER THE AREA DURING PEAK HEATING. OTHERWISE...DRY WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY...WITH SLOWLY MODERATING TEMPERATURES. .DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. ERVIN/DVN LAST/OMA NEXT
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
336 PM CDT WED AUG 21 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0324 PM 12 E FAIRBANK IA 50-55 MPH TSTM GUST
08/21/02 BUCHANAN WIND SPEEDS ESTIMATED.
REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:57 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Several large trees blown down, barn on 540th Street Southwest heavily damaged, and corn flattened in spots on Angle Road Southwest.
Power lines and tree limbs blown down.
An F1 tornado touched down north of Muscatine near Highway 38 doing extensive damage to a machine shed that housed a tractor, disk, planter and field cultivator. Damage to the shed and equipment was estimated at over $200,000. Nearby, the roof was partially blown off a farm house and windows were blown out. Also, it was reported that a pickup truck parked at the farm house was launched 40 feet, landing on an old garage. Corn was also flattened in spots, and trees were blown down starting at the Municipal Golf Course and continuing along the path.
An F0 tornado touched down briefly north of Blue Grass tearing down a large tree limb. Otherwise, no injuries or damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2002Warnings 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: 5312754, 5312755, 5312756, 5312845, 5312757, 5312844.