Iowa, 2002

Tornado in Iowa, June 20, 2002

June 20, 2002 · NWS FSD · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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 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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 20, 7:40 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 7:40 PM CST, 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
840 PM CDT THU JUN 20 2002

EARLIER FCST LOOKS GOOD AND ONLY DID SOME ADJMNT FOR ON GOING SCTD
SHWRS AND TSTMS. LOOKS LIKE THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE LATER TNGT AS
WAVE FROM OUT W MOVS IN AFT MDNGT AND LOW LVL SRLY JET INCRS. BEST
AREA OF TSTMS WILL BE TO N OF WRM FNT THAT WILL BE MOVG N FM NTRL NE
AND CNTRL IA TNGT AND INTO SRN SD AND SRN MN FRI MRNG. TSTMS SHLD
CONT INTO FRI MRNG AND WILL HAVE TO WATCH FOR HVY RAINFALLS.

.FSD...NONE
WB

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 20, 2:32 PM CST, 5 hours 38 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
332 PM CDT THU JUN 20 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0845 PM    HUDSON                    SD   1 INCH HAIL
06/19/02   LINCOLN                        REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

0850 PM    4 SW ROCK VLY             IA   1 INCH HAIL
06/19/02   SIOUX

0850 PM    4 SW ROCK VLY             IA   50 MPH TSTM GUST
06/19/02   SIOUX

0925 PM    2 S GEORGE                IA   .75 INCH HAIL
06/19/02   LYON

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:10 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Woodbury

When
June 20, 8:10 PM CST to 8:20 PM CST
Where
Woodbury County, 2 mi W of Climbing Hill
Rating
F0
Path length
5 mi
Path width
100 yd
Reported by
NWS EMPLOYEE(OFF DUTY)
Coordinates
42.350, -96.117

A tornado caused tree damage along a five mile long path.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2002Warnings 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: 5305931.