Hail in Iowa, June 1, 2002

Name: Hail in Iowa, June 1, 2002
Start: 2002-06-01T21:42
End: 2002-06-01T22:45
Location: Iowa

June 1, 2002 · NWS DMX · 5 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $130,000
Crop damage: $25,000
Events: 5

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS DMX wrote it up.

The weather situation was similar to the previous day with a warm front extending from northern Kansas, across central Iowa, into Illinois. A southerly flow of warm, moist and very unstable air remained in place over the area. Afternoon highs soared into the upper 80s and 90s just south of the front with dew point readings around 70. The airmass was capped again, limiting convection during the afternoon and early evening hours. The cap was broken just southeast of Des Moines with a cluster of severe thunderstorms forming. The storms produced large hail. Reports of hail up to baseball size were received from Wayne County at Humeston. Two and one half inch diameter hail fell nearby at Allerton. Considerable damage occurred due the the hail.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jun 1, 2:40 PM CST, 7 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 1, 2:40 PM CST, 7 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
340 PM CDT SAT JUN 1 2002

ETA DOING A GOOD JOB ON THE DVLPG SITUATION. TMPS HAVE PUSHED INTO
THE LOWER 90S ACRS MOST OF SRN IA WITH DWPTS POOLING IN THE LOWER
70S. MID LVL BAROCLINIC ZONE ARCING ACRS SD INTO NRN IA PER CUR
IMAGERY. CAP IN PLACE ACRS KS/MO AS EVIDENT BY SURPRESSED N CNTRL KS
CONVECTION. SUBTLE E-W BNDRY BCMG VSB IN IMAGERY ARCS SRN IA. CAP
MAY NOT BE AS STG ALG THIS BNDRY AS SUGGESTED BY RDPLY DVLPG CU FLD.
INITIALLY MAY HAVE DVLPMT ALG THIS BNDRY THIS EVENING. BUT...PRIMARY
ACTIVITY XPCD TO DVLP FARTHER TO THE W IN NEB XPND INTO MCS
OVRNGT...FLOWING INTO IA AND PROBABLY NRN MO. TYPCIAL SCENARIO THEN
FOLLOWS FOR TMR WITH MRNG DEBRIS WITH SUNSHINE BREAKING OUT ALG AND
S OF SYNOPTIC BNDRY...WHICH IS FCST TO MV N A BIT...BUT NOT AS MUCH
AS THE MDLS THINK. CAPES GO XTRM TMR WITH PROBABLY A BIT BTR
DYNAMICS...HENCE DECENT POPS FOR TMR NGT WITH ANOTHER MCS. HELD PCPN
THEN IN CUR FCST INTO TUE NGT AND THEN SHUT IT OFF AS CANADIAN HI
MOVS IN AND COOLS US DOWN ON WED. HAVE LEANED ON ETA TMPS HEAVILY
SINCE IT APPEARS TO BE HANDLING THE THERMAL GRADIENT ACRS IA BTR
CONSIDERING XPCD MCS AND CLDS...IE...HOT S...COOLER N.

.DSM...NONE
MYERS

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:40 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lucas

When: June 1, 9:42 PM CST
Where: Lucas County, 4 mi W of Derby
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $5,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.933, -93.533

Hail, Lucas

When: June 1, 9:55 PM CST
Where: Lucas County, Derby
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $5,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.933, -93.450

Hail, Wayne

When: June 1, 9:58 PM CST
Where: Wayne County, Humeston
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Property damage: $20,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 40.867, -93.483

Hail, Wayne

When: June 1, 10:00 PM CST
Where: Wayne County, Humeston
Measured: 2.75 in hail
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 40.867, -93.483

Hail, Wayne

When: June 1, 10:45 PM CST
Where: Wayne County, Allerton
Measured: 2.5 in hail
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: $5,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 40.700, -93.367

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, June 2002

Sources

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: 5294217, 5294218, 5294219, 5294220, 5294221.