1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 23, 1:34 AM CST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 235 AM THU MAY 23 2002 UPPER SYSTEM DRIVING LATE SEASON SNOW STORM OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES PROGGED TO LIFT NE TODAY. ANOTHER POTENT TROUGH JUST MOVING INTO THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION AT 00Z. COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH NORTHERN PLAINS SYSTEM EXTENDS FROM WRN MN THRU NORTHEAST NE INTO NW KS AT 06Z. CONVECTION THAT DEVELOPED AHEAD OF THE FRONT WED EVE MOVING THROUGH S CENTRAL IA ATM AND IS WEAKENING WITH TIME. ANOTHER LINE OF ELEVATED SHRA POPPED ON LEADING EDGE OF MID CLOUD DECK WITH IN THE LAST HOUR OVER EASTERN CWA. HOWEVER...RADAR LOOP SHOWS SHRA WEAKENING AS THEY MOVE EAST. MODELS HANDLE UA FEATURES SIMILARLY NEXT 48 HRS MOVING NORTHERN PLAINS SYSTEM EAST...FLATTENING OUT RIDGE OVER EASTERN U.S. NV/CA S/W MOVES EAST INTO MISSISSIPPI VALLEY BY 12Z SAT. SURFACE FRONT MOVES SE AND STALLS OVER NORHTERN HALF OF MO BY 12Z FRI. SURFACE WAVE DEVELOPS ALONG FRONT AND MOVES NORTHEAST THROUGH SOUTHERN CWA FRI NIGHT. AVN APPEARS TO HAVE INITIALIZED A LITTE BETTER ON THE WRN U.S. S/W CAPTURING THE H300 JET MOVING INTO BASE OF TROUGH BETTER THAN THE ETA. AVN HAS BEEN CONSISTENT STALLING THE FRONT OUT FURTHER N THAN ETA LAST COUPLE OF RUNS...SO WILL STICK WITH AVN SOLN. MAIN CONCERNS WILL BE AFTERNOON CONVECTION AND RAINFALL POTENTIAL WITH SURFACE WAVE FRIDAY NIGHT. CONVECTION OVER CENTRAL IA IS DIMINISHING AS IT MOVES EAST. HOWEVER...AS 850 WINDS VEER EARLY THIS MORNING...SWLY FLOW SHOULD PROVIDE SOME THETA-E ADVECTION TO SUPPORT SOME SHRA OVER CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SECTIONS. EXPECT TSRA TO FIRE ALONG FRONT EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AS IT MOVES THROUGH CENTRAL IA. BEST MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY WILL BE ACROSS THE SOUTH. BELIEVE SEVERE THREAT IS BORDERLINE. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE/CAPE WILL BE MARGINAL WITH LOW 60 DEWPOINTS AND CAPES AROUND 1000 J/KG. AVN MOVES IMPRESSIVE QPF BULLSEYE ACROSS NRN MO TONIGHT...BUT LOOKS OVERDONE DUE TO FEEBACK ISSUES...ETA IS CONSIDERABLY WEAKER WITH THIS FEATURE. MAIN QPF EVENT WILL BE FRI NIGHT AS WRN U.S. TROUGH INTERACT WITH STALLED FRONT... SENDING A SURFACE NE ALONG THE BOUNDARY. AVN HAS BEEN CONSISTENT WITH THIS FEATURE SO WILL...BEEF...UP POPS SOUTH TO CATEGORICAL AND GO LIKELY NORTH. WITH SURFACE WAVE MOVING THROUGH FAR SOUTH AND PWS OVER AN INCH...FEEL THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN ALTHOUGH MODELS DONT SEEM TO GENERATE MUCH. WILL MENTION HEAVY RAIN THREAT SOUTH...WHERE SOILS ARE STILL RECOVERING FROM LAST WEEKS HEAVY RAINS. TEMPS IN CURRENT FORECAST LOOK REASONABLE WITH HIGHS TODAY A FEW DEGREES WARMER THAN MOS DUE WITH APPROACHING FRONT. WILL BACK OFF TEMPS SOME FOR FRIDAY WITH EASTERLY FLOW DEVELOPING NORTH OF THE BOUNDARY BRINGING SOME COOLER AIR OF LM. THANKS TO ILX FOR COORDINATION. .DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. DLF
IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007-009- 015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-241000- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 441 AM CDT THU MAY 23 2002 LIGHT RAIN WILL MOVE EAST THROUGH AREAS ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 EARLY THIS MORNING. SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT OCCUR WILL STAY WELL BELOW SEVERE LIMITS. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR ALONG AHEAD OF THE FRONT. THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME SEVERE ALONG SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 34 IN SOUTHEAST IOWA AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. DUE TO MARGINAL INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE...HAIL UP TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER WILL BE THE GREATEST THREAT FROM ANY SEVERE STORMS THAT DEVELOP. MOST OF THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE EAST OF THE REGION BY LATE THIS EVENING. THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO STALL ACROSS MISSOURI TONIGHT. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM MOVING OUT OF THE ROCKIES FRIDAY WILL INTERACT WITH THE FRONT CAUSING A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM TO FORM. THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTHEAST ALONG THE FRONT FRIDAY NIGHT...SPREADING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER MOST OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST IOWA...NORTHEAST MISSOURI AND WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST ILLINOIS. THE THUNDERSTORMS THAT MOVE THROUGH AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 34 WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. THE RAIN MAY BE HEAVY ENOUGH TO CREATE SOME FLOODING ON TRIBUTARIES AND SMALL STREAMS. PEOPLE LIVING IN FLOOD PRONE AREAS SHOULD MONITOR LATER WEATHER FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE HEAVY RAIN AND FLOODING THREAT. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING FOR AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 34 IN SOUTHEAST IOWA AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. DLF
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:57 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A man was left with a headache after being struck by lightning.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, May 2002
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: 5297767.