Winter Storm, Dickinson
- When
- March 14, 9:00 AM CST to 11:00 PM CST
- Where
- Dickinson forecast zone
- Property damage
- $200,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 43.378, -95.151 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm in Iowa, March 14, 2002
Widespread icing from freezing rain made travel difficult, and at times impossible. Damage to power lines and trees occurred, especially in the Spirit Lake area, where significant power outages were reported for the second time in a week.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $200,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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 FSD wrote it up.
Widespread icing from freezing rain made travel difficult, and at times impossible. Damage to power lines and trees occurred, especially in the Spirit Lake area, where significant power outages were reported for the second time in a week. One to three inches of snow fell on top of the ice, except in northwestern Lyon County where up to 5 inches fell.
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 Mar 14, 3:35 AM CST, 5 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 14, 3:35 AM CST, 5 hours 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS 335 AM CST THU MAR 14 2002 SNOW COVER WILL LARGELY DRIVE TEMPS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...WITH FRESH SNOW COVER RANGING FROM 19 INCHES IN HURON /NEARLY MATCHING THEIR SEASON TO DATE TOTAL UP THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...TO BARE GROUND IN KSUX AND KSLB. PROBABLY WILL NOT SEE TEMPS CLIMB TOO MUCH TODAY... ESPECIALLY WEST AND NORTH WITH AT LEAST PARTIAL SUNSHINE REFLECTING OFF THE FRESH SNOW. SHOULD GENERALLY SEE HIGHS RANGE FROM MID 20S WEST AND NORTH...TO MID-UPPER 30S IN THE SOUTHEAST. TONIGHT WILL BE COLDEST NIGHT BY FAR...AS SURFACE RIDGE AND ASSOCIATED SUBSIDENCE MOVES THROUGH...BRINGING MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS MUCH OF THE NIGHT. PERFECT RADIATIONAL COOLING SCENARIO WITH FRESH SNOW... AND WILL GENERALLY SEE LOWS FROM SINGLE DIGITS WEST AND NORTH...TO UPPER TEENS IN THE SOUTHEAST. SOME WARMUP MOST AREAS ON SATURDAY ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE HIGH. SOUTHEAST FLOW GENERALLY NOT THE BEST FOR MIXING...BUT IT SHOULD HELP ERODE SOME OF THE SNOW COVER FROM THE SOUTHEAST. COOLEST READINGS AGAIN IN THE WEST AND NORTH...BUT EVEN THERE READINGS SHOULD MAKE IT TO THE LOWER TO MID 30S. CLOSER TO MID 40S ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST. BROAD UPPER TROF IN THE WESTERN CONUS WILL EJECT SHORTWAVES OVER OUR AREA THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND EARLY NEXT WEEK...AND THE FIRST OF THOSE WILL AFFECT THE AREA LATE SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. WILL BRING AN INCREASE IN CLOUDS TO THE WEST SATURDAY AFTERNOON... WITH A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW SPREADING WEST TO EAST OVER MOST OF THE CWA SATURDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL LINGER INTO SUNDAY MORNING ACROSS THE NORTHEAST...WHILE THE WEST AND SOUTH AREAS OF THE CWA BECOME PARTLY SUNNY. MORE CLOSELY FOLLOWING THE ETA WITH THIS SCENARIO. THE AVN IS TRYING TO DEVELOP A STRONGER SHORTWAVE FOR SUNDAY...STRENGTHENING THE WAVE AS IT ROUNDS THE BASE OF THE TROUGH...WITH RESULTING QPF VALUES FROM 1/4 TO 1/2 INCH THROUGH THE DAY...WHILE THE ETA REMAINS DRY. HAVE A HARD TIME SEEING WHY THIS WAVE WOULD INTENSIFY AS THE AVN REFLECTS...AND WILL LEAN TOWARD THE ETA. THIS HAS AN IMPACT ON TEMPS AS WELL...SINCE THE STRONGER WAVE KNOCKS TEMPS BACK SOME. AS A RESULT...WE ARE SEEING AROUND 5-7 DEG C DIFFERENCE IN 850MB TEMPS FOR SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. GREATEST EFFECT FROM THIS DIFFERENCE WOULD BE IN HIGHS ON MONDAY...BUT DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH CONFIDENCE TO RAISE HIGHS AT THIS POINT. .FSD...NONE 13
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Winter Storm, Lyon
- When
- March 14, 9:00 AM CST to 11:00 PM CST
- Where
- Lyon forecast zone
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 43.381, -96.210 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Osceola
- When
- March 14, 9:00 AM CST to 11:00 PM CST
- Where
- Osceola forecast zone
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 43.379, -95.624 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Winter Storm
- A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Avalanche in Colorado, March 14, 2002
- Avalanche in Colorado, March 14, 2002
- Winter Storm in South Dakota, March 14, 2002
- Ice Storm in Iowa, March 14, 2002
- Winter Storm in Minnesota, March 14, 2002
- Winter Storm in Minnesota, March 14 to 15, 2002
- Avalanche in Utah, March 14, 2002
- Winter Storm in South Dakota, March 14, 2002
- Winter Storm in Nebraska, March 14, 2002
- Winter Storm in Wisconsin, March 14 to 15, 2002
- Winter Storm in Wisconsin, March 14 to 15, 2002
- Winter Storm in Minnesota, March 14, 2002
More
Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, March 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: 5284175, 5284176, 5284177.