Damaging Winds in Iowa, June 10 to 11, 2002

Name: Damaging Winds in Iowa, June 10 to 11, 2002
Start: 2002-06-10T22:27
End: 2002-06-11T00:20
Location: Iowa

June 10 to 11, 2002 · NWS DMX · 11 events in 5 counties and zones

A very humid airmass was in place over Iowa during the afternoon of the 10th into the evening. High temperatures were not all that high with upper 70s and 80s common.

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: $83,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 11

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.

A very humid airmass was in place over Iowa during the afternoon of the 10th into the evening. High temperatures were not all that high with upper 70s and 80s common. Dew point temperatures were in the low to mid 70s. A cold front approached Iowa from the northwest. Thunderstorms fired up along the front. The main focus of thunderstorm development was over eastern Nebraska into western Iowa. A strong low level jet developed during the early evening hours. The combination of high amounts of low level moisture and the strong low level jet impinging on the approaching front was enough to break the cap in spite of a +13 C. temperature at 700 mb over Omaha. The storms formed into a Mesoscale Convective System. Though there was some hail with the thunderstorms, the main severe weather event was high winds. The lead edge of the system transitioned into a bow echo and produced winds of 60 to 70 MPH in several locations. One of the higher winds was at the apex of the bow echo. Seventy one MPH winds swept through the Fort Dodge area of Webster County. There were numerous reports of tree damage across western into parts of central Iowa. Scattered reports were received of power poles being blown down by the high wind. Southwest of Clarion in Wright County, high winds downed several power poles for example.

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 10, 2:50 PM CST, 7 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 10, 2:50 PM CST, 7 hours 37 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
350 PM CDT MON JUN 10 2002

COMPLICATED FORECAST TO DEAL WITH TODAY AS THERE ARE A FEW THINGS
GOING ON AT ONCE.  OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN IS THE VORT MAX PULLING NE
OUT OF KS/NE TOWARDS IA.  THIS IS MOVING INTO AN AREA WITH
SUBSTANTIALLY LESS CAP...GOOD MOISTURE AND MODERATE INSTABILITY.
THE CAVEAT...CLOUD COVER PRODUCED FROM AN EARLIER VORT MAX.  THIS
WILL LIKELY PROHIBIT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT UNTIL THE VORT MAX
MOVES CLOSER...SOMETIME LATER THIS EVENING.  NEXT CONCERN IS SOME
THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER SERN NEB...ON THE NRN EDGE OF THE VORT
MAX.   THESE SHOULD BEHAVE THEMSELVES AS THEY MOVE INTO IOWA AND WE
ARE NOT EXPECTING MUCH IN THE WAY OF RAINFALL/SVR WX.

THE NEXT PROBLEM IS THE COLD FRONT WHICH CONTINUES TO MAKE PROGRESS
ACROSS THE DKTAS AND NEB HEADING INTO IA.  THERE IS NOT MUCH PUSH TO
THE SRN END OF THE FRONT BUT A SHORTWAVE SHOULD PUSH ACROSS THE NRN
HALF OF THE STATE TONIGHT DRAGGING THE FRONT ALONG WITH IT.   BY
TUESDAY MORNING THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO BE SOMEWHERE ALONG AN ALO
TO DSM TO RDK.  MOISTURE AND MODERATE INSTABILITY WILL ALLOW THE
ATMOSPHERE TO RELOAD FAIRLY QUICKLY TUESDAY EARLY AFTERNOON...AFTER
THE MORNINGS CONVECTION...THUS GIVING US ANOTHER ROUND OF
THUNDERSTORMS.  THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH HAIL AND WIND
THE PRIMARY THREAT.  THE FRONT THEN STALLS A BIT THROUGH TUESDAY
EVENING CONTINUING THE THREAT FOR STORMS OVER THE SERN QUARTER OF
THE CWA.  HIGH PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO BUILD IN BEHIND THE FRONT
PUSHING THE FRONT INTO NRN MO BEFORE STALLING IT OUT ONCE AGAIN.
PRECIP SHOULD END OVER THE CWA BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING FOLLOWED
BY SOME CLEARING WITH COOLER TEMPS.  THE END OF THE WEEK WILL BE
FAIRLY TRANQUIL BEFORE AN ACTIVE START TO NEXT WEEK.

THE EXTENDED BECOMES PROBLEMATIC AS ANOTHER LOW DEVELOPS OVER ERN
NEB AND THE DKTAS WITH A WRM FNT EXTENDING...AND VACILLATING
BETWEEN NRN IA AND SRN MN.  CONVECTION WILL OCCUR ALONG AND N OF
THIS BOUNDARY BUT JUST WHERE IT WILL OCCUR IS THE PROBLEM.  FOR NOW
I HAVE PUT A CHANCE IN STARTING LATE SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY.

.DSM...NONE

FAB

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:26 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

11 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Crawford

When: June 10, 10:27 PM CST
Where: Crawford County, Charter Oak
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph)
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 42.067, -95.600

Thunderstorm Wind, Crawford

When: June 10, 10:30 PM CST
Where: Crawford County, Ricketts
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph)
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.133, -95.567

Thunderstorm Wind, Crawford

When: June 10, 10:32 PM CST
Where: Crawford County, Denison
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph)
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.017, -95.350

Thunderstorm Wind, Carroll

When: June 10, 10:45 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, Manning
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.900, -95.067

Thunderstorm Wind, Carroll

When: June 10, 10:56 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, 1 mi N of Halbur
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Property damage: $3,000
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 42.017, -94.967

Thunderstorm Wind, Carroll

When: June 10, 11:16 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, Carroll Neu Arpt
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.050, -94.783

Thunderstorm Wind, Greene

When: June 10, 11:30 PM CST
Where: Greene County, Churdan
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Property damage: $3,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.167, -94.483

Thunderstorm Wind, Webster

When: June 10, 11:55 PM CST
Where: Webster County, Ft Dodge Muni Arpt
Measured: 62 kt (71 mph)
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.550, -94.183

Thunderstorm Wind, Webster

When: June 10, 11:58 PM CST
Where: Webster County, Ft Dodge
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph)
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.500, -94.183

Thunderstorm Wind, Wright

When: June 11, 12:10 AM CST
Where: Wright County, Eagle Grove
Measured: 56 kt (64 mph)
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.667, -93.900

Thunderstorm Wind, Wright

When: June 11, 12:20 AM CST
Where: Wright County, 3 mi SW of Clarion
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph)
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.700, -93.783

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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: 5294227, 5294228, 5294229, 5294314, 5294230, 5294309, 5294310, 5294311, 5294312, 5294315, 5294313.