3 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 5, 2:20 PM CST, 5 hours 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 320 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 FIRST SFC TROF/UPR WAVE SETTING OFF SCT TSTMS ERN CWA EARLY TNGT... AS MAIN WAVE APPROACHES FM W HANGING UP FNTL BOUNDARY FM SW TO NE IN CWA THIS EVE. SFC LOW PRES DVLPG FM WY INTO NE WILL INCR CONVERGENCE ALG BOUNDARY AND CAUSE MORE SCT TSTMS TO DVLP FM SW TO NE IN CWA LATER IN EVE. THUS WILL KEEP PREV FCST SCT TSTMS WITH PSBL SVR... MAINLY S AND E IN CWA THIS EVE. BOUNDARY MOVES SE OF AREA FLWD BY NWLY FLW OF MILD AIR IN CWA FOR MON...THUS A NICE DAY BUT MAYBE RATHER BREEZY WITH MIXING. GOOD FRONTOGENESIS FM W TO E IN CWA MON NGT INTO TUE...AND AS MORE UPR LVL ENERGY MOVES IN FM SW...MORE WDSPRD SHWRS AND PSBL EMBEDDED TSTMS SHOULD AFFECT MOST OF CWA FM LATE MON NGT THRU AT LEAST WED MRNG. AVN A LIT ON THE FAST SIDE... WITH UKMET/CANADIAN SPCTRL SLOWER AND BTR. SIMILAR SYS WILL MOVE E OVR CWA FOR LATE FRI INTO SUN...WITH A WARMUP THEREAFTER. .FSD...NONE RYRHOLM
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:26 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage, and tree limbs falling on power lines caused a power outage that lasted for several hours.
Thunderstorm winds blew over a barn and several sheds, and blew off or damaged the roofs of several buildings. The winds also caused tree and power line damage, with resulting power outages.
Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage. Numerous trees were blown down, including a 3 inch diameter tree snapped off at its base.
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: 5293823, 5293824, 5293825.