Tornado and Hail in Iowa, June 21, 2002

Name: Tornado and Hail in Iowa, June 21, 2002
Start: 2002-06-21T12:20
End: 2002-06-21T17:51
Location: Iowa

June 21, 2002 · NWS ARX · 6 events in 3 counties and zones

Law enforcement officials observed a brief tornado touchdown along Highway 18 near Ionia (Chickasaw County). There was no damage reported with the storm.

Where it happened

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.

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: 6

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 ARX wrote it up.

Law enforcement officials observed a brief tornado touchdown along Highway 18 near Ionia (Chickasaw County). There was no damage reported with the storm. The public also reported hail the size of quarters and golf balls.

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 La Crosse, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 21, 1:50 AM CST, 10 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 1:50 AM CST, 10 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
250 AM CDT FRI JUN 21 2002

FORECAST CONCERNS REMAIN PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON CONVECTION AND
ASSOCIATED RAINFALL AMOUNTS TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.

EARLY THIS MORNING...SURFACE FRONT EXTENDED FROM WI/IL BORDER AREA
THROUGH CENTRAL PART OF IOWA AND NEBRASKA. PROFILERS INDICATED 30KT
850MB WINDS IMPINGING ON THE FRONT. HIGH THETA-E AIR WITH 70F
DEWPOINTS FEEDING IN ACROSS MISSOURI...KANSAS ILLINOIS AND IOWA...
WHILE 850MB DEWPOINTS AROUND 15C. RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH
LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MOVING THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA...WITH MORE
CONVECTION DEVELOPING UPSTREAM OVER NORTHWEST IOWA.

BIGGEST DIFFERENCE NOTED IN THE 00Z AVN AND ETA MODELS WAS POSITION
OF FRONT BY 00Z SATURDAY. AVN LIFTS FRONT FURTHER NORTH THAN ETA...
WITH POSITION FROM KMKE-KMSP-KABR BY 00Z THIS EVENING. ON THE OTHER
HAND...ETA SUGGESTS FRONT SITUATED FROM NEAR KCHI-KDBQ-KFSD AT SAME
TIME. PREFER THE ETA AS ONGOING CONVECTION SHOULD RESULT IN SLOWER
NORTHWARD PROGRESSION TODAY. AFTERWARDS...BOTH MODELS AGREE FRONT
TO MOVE NORTH AS SURFACE WAVE LIFTS NORTHEAST ACROSS THE PLAINS.

LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TRANSPORT CONTINUES INTO EAST-WEST ORIENTED FRONT
TODAY...WITH GOOD SPEED CONVERGENCE ESPECIALLY THIS MORNING. CORFIDI
VECTORS SUGGEST SLOW MOVING AND EVEN BACK-BUILDING CONVECTION THIS
MORNING AS WELL. PRECIPITABLE WATER REMAINS HIGH...WITH VALUES AROUND
1.8 INCHES. ALL OF THIS POINTS TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN ALONG AND NORTH
OF THE FRONT. AS MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS ARX DISCUSSIONS...SEVERE
WEATHER POTENTIAL APPEARS MINIMAL TODAY DUE TO WET BULB ZERO HEIGHTS
NEAR 12K FEET AND DEEP WARM CLOUD LAYER.

LATEST 3 HOURLY FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES SHOWED MOST OF THE
FORECAST AREA...EXCEPT FOR PARTS OF NORTHEAST IOWA AND SOUTHEAST
MN...BETWEEN 2-3 INCHES. THEREFORE...GROUND SHOULD BE ABLE TO
ABSORB 1-2 INCH RAINS...PRECLUDING NEED FOR FLOOD WATCH HEADLINES
AT THIS TIME. WILL PLAN TO CONTINUE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WORDING THIS
MORNING FOR ALL ZONES AND FOR THE AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL WI.

AS THE FRONT LIFTS GRADUALLY NORTHWARD TONIGHT...SHRA/TSRA AND HEAVY
RAIN POTENTIAL SHOULD LIKEWISE SHIFT NORTHWARD AS WELL. HOWEVER...
OPTED TO CONTINUE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WORDING IN NORTH CENTRAL WI
ZONES WHERE ETA SUPPORTS DECENT SPEED CONVERGENCE IN LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE TRANSPORT. THE FRONT ANTICIPATED TO PUSH NORTH BY SATURDAY
MORNING...TAKING RAIN CHANCES WITH IT. THIS LENDS HIGH CONFIDENCE TO
CURRENT FORECAST SCENARIO OF DRYING OUT AND HEATING UP FOR THE
WEEKEND AND INTO MONDAY AS STRONG CAP BUILDS OVER THE FORECAST AREA.

TEMPERATURE FORECAST APPEARS IN GOOD SHAPE WITH UPWARD TREND
INDICATED AS WE HEAD INTO THE WEEKEND. CLOUDS AND SHRA COULD KEEP
READINGS DOWN TODAY...BUT WITH WARM START...PREFER TO MAINTAIN
CONTINUITY WITH THIS AFTERNOONS HIGHS OF UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S.
THIS FIRST WEEKEND OF THE SUMMER SHOULD HAVE HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S
TO LOWER 90S...WHICH WAS SUPPORTED BY 850MB TEMPERATURES AROUND 20C
ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

.LSE...NONE.

THOMPSON

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:22 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail, 2 funnel cloud, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Floyd

When: June 21, 12:20 PM CST
Where: Floyd County, 5 mi SE of Marble Rock
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 42.917, -92.800

Hail, Floyd

When: June 21, 12:23 PM CST
Where: Floyd County, 5 mi W of Marble Rock
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 42.967, -92.967

Funnel Cloud, Floyd

When: June 21, 12:43 PM CST to 1:10 PM CST
Where: Floyd County, Powersville
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.060, -92.789 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Funnel Cloud, Clayton

When: June 21, 1:59 PM CST to 2:01 PM CST
Where: Clayton County, Garnavillo
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 42.845, -91.341 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hail, Chickasaw

When: June 21, 5:15 PM CST to 5:51 PM CST
Where: Chickasaw County, 1 mi W of New Hampton
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.067, -92.350

Tornado, Chickasaw

When: June 21, 5:15 PM CST to 5:18 PM CST
Where: Chickasaw County, 2 mi NW of Ionia
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.5 mi
Path width: 30 yd
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.050, -92.500

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
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

Every storm in Iowa in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Iowa, 2002 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: 5305699, 5305700, 5305703, 5305704, 5305701, 5305702.