4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 tornado, 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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 8, 2:05 PM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 305 PM CDT WED MAY 8 2002 ...SEVERE POTENTIAL FOR ONE MORE NIGHT... AFTERNOON CONVECTION JUST NOW TAKING OFF IN EASTERN KS INTO CENTRAL MO IN WARM SECTOR OF LOW OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KS. SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWED COLD FRONT EXTENDING NORTH TO SECOND WEAKER LOW AT 18Z N OF OMA WITH MAIN WARM SYNOPTIC WARM FRONT SE TO W CENTRAL IL. MUCH OF DVN CWFA HAS HAD FULL SUNSHINE TODAY WITH CAP IN PLACE. LAPS SB CAPES AT 18Z IN 2K TO 3K J/KG RANGE IN CENTRAL IA AND PORTIONS OF SE IA. VISIBLE SATELLITE SHOWS TRIPLE POINT OVER SW IA MOVING NE AND WITH 3MB PRESSURE FALLS CENTERED OVER N CENTRAL IA AND SIMILAR MAGNITUE RISES OVER E CENTRAL NEB...THE LOW AND THIS FEATURE SHOULD CONTINUE NE THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON. PER SPC DISCUSSION...LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND INSTABILITY WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR FEW SUPERCELLS IN FAR SW LATE AFTERNOON INTO EVENING...THEN THREAT TURNS INTO LINEAR STORMS WELL AHEAD OF FRONT IN EVENING WITH DAMAGING WIND MAIN THREAT. UPSTREAM CONVECTION ALONG NUMEROUS MESOSCALE BOUNDARIES IN MO AND EASTERN KS MAY AGAIN LIMIT CONVECTION INITIALLY. HOWEVER...WITH WIDESPREAD SUNSHINE AND CONSIDERABLY MORE IMPRESSIVE UPPER DIVERGENCE AND LOW TO MID LEVEL FORCING TONIGHT...THUNDERSTORMS AND SEVERE POTENTIAL LOOKS MUCH MORE FAVORABLE THAN PAST COUPLE NIGHTS. MODELS ARE SIMILAR WITH H5 LOW MOVING ACROSS MT THIS AFTERNOON AND NORTH OF CWFA ON THURSDAY. SOME DIFFERENCES APPEAR IN SURFACE PRESSURE FEATURES...WITH META HAVING BEST HANDLE WITH DOUBLE LOW STRUCTURE AT 18Z AND THUS FAVORED MODEL FOR SHORT TERM. ALL HAVE SIMILAR TIMING OF FROPA THAT IS A LITTLE LATER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS. FOLLOWING META...FRONT PASSES MISS RIVER AT 06Z. BIGGEST SEVERE THREAT WILL BE TO WEST...WITH SOME DAMAGING WIND POSSIBLE WITH ORGANIZED SQUALL LINE AFTER MIDNIGHT IN NW IL. HAVE LET FLOOD WATCH THAT WAS OUT FOR SOUTH TODAY EXPIRE SINCE FLOODING POTENTIAL NOW SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED. SINCE HEAVY RAINS FAILED TO MATERIALIZE LAST TWO NIGHTS AND GROUND IN SOUTH HAS HAD TIME TO DRY. DESPITE POTENTALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IN STORMS TONIGHT DUE TO ABUNDANT MOISTURE...RELATIVELY FAST MOVEMENT WOULD LIMIT TOTALS TO RANGE AROUND .75 TO 1.2 AT BEST. MOST THREATENED WILL BE FAR SE IA ZONES AND ADJACENT MO AND IL ZONES WHERE 1 HOUR FFG FROM .9 TO 1.1 AND WILL HAVE TO MONITOR IF CELLS AHEAD OF FRONT BEGIN TO TRAIN. KEPT LIKELY POPS ZONES TONIGHT...WITH SEVERE WORDING ALL ZONES AND INCLUDING HAIL MAINLY IN SE IA ZONES FOR EVENING. LOOKS NOW LIKE MOST OF BACK EDGE RAIN WILL END BY SUNRISE AND REDUCED EARLY FRIDAY POPS TO 30 PERCENT AND THEN ONLY IN NW IL ZONES. BREEZY AND COOL MAIN MESSAGE FOR THURSDAY AND WITH AMOUNT OF COLD AIR WRAPPING AROUND AND FORECAST H85 TEMPERATURES OF -2 TO AROUND +1...WILL UNDERCUT GUIDANCE AND STAY IN 50S FOR HIGHS. W-NW WINDS WILL BE IN WINDY CRITERIA. MAINLY FOLLOWED AVN FRIDAY AND BEYOND AS IT HAS BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL SATURDAY AND SUNDAY WITH NEXT SERIES OF H5 WAVES MOVING ALONG BAROCLINIC ZONE THAT REDEVELOPS ACROSS IA AND NORTHERN IL. RAISED SATURDAY TO LIKELY WORDING...BUT KEPT CHANCE FOR SUNDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT BEFORE MAIN H5 LONGWAVE TROUGH MOVES THROUGH. IN EXTENDED...NW FLOW AND LOW LEVEL RIDGING DOMINATES MON AND TUE. MRF CONTINUING TREND OF RAIN CHANCES FOR THURSDAY WITH NEXT FRONTAL PASSAGE AND BROUGHT IN CHANCE FOR AFTERNOON SHOWERS. .DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. DLS
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:47 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief spinup tornado, along the leading edge of a cluster of thunderstorms, produced heavy damage to a farmstead south of Richland. Power lines and large trees were knocked down, and a machine shed and grain bin were destroyed. No injuries were reported.
Trees and powers lines down.
Trees and power lines down.
Tree limbs down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Iowa, 2002Warnings 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: 5299072, 5299694, 5299695, 5299696, 5299071, 5299697, 5299699, 5299698.