4 hail, 1 high wind, 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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 17, 2:00 PM CST, 9 hours 43 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 3 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002 MAIN PROBLEMS ARE CONSIDERATIONS OF STG CONVECTION TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...THEN AMT OF COOLING AND PCPN CHCS INTO THE WEEKEND. VERY WARM ON THURSDAY WITH SOME READINGS NEAR RECORD HIGH LVLS...AM USING MESO-ETA SFC TEMPERATURES FOR MAX TEMP GUIDANCE ON THURSDAY. RATHER SLIM CHCS FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT. NOT QUITE SLIM ENUF TO PRECLUDE MENTION...BUT WILL HOLD WITH MINIMAL POPS FOR THREE REASONS...ALL OF WHICH MAY BE RATHER WEAK. FIRST IS WARMFRONTAL BOUNDARY. LATEST PROFILERS FROM 19Z SHOW BNDRY JUST OFF THE SFC (FIRST SVRL GATES OF PROFILERS) SHOW IT ALG NRN BORDER. ALL SMALLER GRID MODELS INCLUDING MESO-ETA AND WORKSTATION ETA SHOW SFC FNT MVG RAPIDLY NORTH REST OF THIS AFTERNOON. COULD HAVE A STORM OR TWO ALONG NRN BORDER EARLY BUT MORE LIKELY TO NORTH OF CWA. SECOND REASON IS CONVECTION TRYING TO GET ITSELF TOGETHER ALG DRY LINE WRN OK. THIS COULD DVLP FURTHER NORTH NEXT FEW HOURS...THEN MAY TRACK NORTHEAST INTO CWA LATE EVENING. HOWEVER WOULD NOT EXPECT THIS TO MAKE MUCH PROGRESS EAST...IF IT EVEN MAKES IT THIS FAR. NOTE AND AGREE WITH ICT THAT STORMS MAY HAVE A HARD TIME MAKING IT TOO FAR INTO KS...LET ALONE MY CWA. BUT STILL SOME REMOTE THREAT. PROBABLY THE BEST THREAT...ALBEIT STILL QUITE SMALL...IS THE THREAT FOR ELEVATED CONVECTION WITHIN THE LOW LVL JET LATER TONIGHT. BUFKIT SNDGS IMPLY THIS AFT MIDNIGHT WITHIN AREA. IF THIS HAPPENS, THIS CONVECTION COULD LINGER INTO TMRW AM. THEREFORE...WILL CONTINUE WITH SLGT CHC FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT...THEN MENTION CONVECTION CNTRL AND ERN PTN CWA ON THURSDAY. FOLLOWING MESO-ETA LOW LVL MOISTURE PROFILE... WRN PTN CWA NOT LIKELY TO SEE ANY CONVECTION TMRW SINCE DRYER AIR LIKELY WORKING IN BY MIDDAY TMRW. QUESTION THEN BECOMES WHERE BEST MOISTURE CONVERGENCE SETS UP BY THIS TIME THURSDAY. ALSO AGREE WITH ICT THAT TMRW COULD BE AN ACTIVE SVR WX DAY. NUMEROUS SHORT WAVE IMPULSES MOVG OVR AREA LATE IN THE AFTN COULD BE JUST ENOUGH IMPETUS FOR EXPLOSIVE DVLPMT. GIVEN CURRENT MESO-ETA FCST...WOULD SUSPECT THAT MAY HAPPEN NEAR OR JUST EAST OF A SENECA-ABILENE LINE BY MID TO LATE AFTN. CONVECTION WOULD THEN PUSH EAST OVR REST OF CWA...EXITING SOUTHEASTERN PTN OF CWA AFT MIDNIGHT. LATER FORECAST PDS PROBLEMATIC TOO. IF HPCS SFC WX DEPICTION IS RIGHT...CANT SEE MUCH SUPPORT FOR PCPN OVER THE WEEKEND...CERTAINLY NOT TSTMS. OF COURSE, COULD SEE LOTS OF CLOUDS WITH SOME OVRRNG...BUT WIDESPREAD PCPN NOT LIKELY. WITH NORTHERLY FLOW AND CLOUDS...TEMPERATURES BLO CLIMO LIKELY. NICE RECOVERY BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. IF LESS CLOUDS OCCUR THAN FORECAST...WEEKEND TEMPS WOULD NOT BE THAT FAR REMOVED FROM CLIMO HIGHS/LOWS...I.E. 60S/40S. .TOP...NONE
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1126 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1124 PM 3 S ELMO KS 1.75 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSON PUBLIC REPORTED GOLF
BALL SIZE HAILPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1133 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1113 PM 2 SW CARLTON KS .75 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSON PUBLIC REPORTED DIME
SIZE HAILPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1134 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1124 PM 1S ELMO KS 1 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1135 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1123 PM CARLTON KS 1 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1148 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1148 PM 5N HERINGTON KS 1 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSONPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1205 AM CDT THU APR 18 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1204 AM MINNEAPOLIS KS .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/02 OTTAWA PENNY SIZE HAIL
REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENTThe Topeka radar (KTWX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:53 UTC.
4 hail, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong winds stirred up blowing dust that reduced visibility.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, April 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: 5289902, 5289903, 5289904, 5289905, 5289906.