3 hail, 2 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 Aug 11, 2:05 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 305 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 2002 ...MAIN CONCERN IS PRECIP CHANCES TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY... LAPS INDICATES LITTLE TO NO CAP OVER SOUTHEAST 2/3 OF CWA AND WEAK CONVERGENCE AND SURFACE HEATING IS CAUSING CLUSTERS OF SHOWERS AND STORMS TO DEVELOP IN CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT. SURFACE BASED CAPE OVER 3000 J/KG BUT SHEAR IS RELATIVELY WEAK. THUS EXPECT STORMS TO WEAKEN/DISSIPATE BY SUNSET. HOWEVER, A WEAK VORT MAX MOVING EASTWARD ACROSS EXTREME SRN NEBRASKA/NRN KS MAY FIRE OFF MORE CONVECTION LATER TONIGHT AS LOW-LEVEL JET STRENGTHENS. THUS HAVE LOW POPS FOR ALL OF CWA TONIGHT. MODEL SURFACE FORECASTS IN SHORT RANGE HAVE VERY SIMILAR TIMING WITH TROUGH/FRONT PASSAGE THROUGH EASTERN KANSAS MONDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT, IN ASSOCIATION WITH UPPER SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING SOUTHEAST ACROSS CENTRAL PLAINS. WHILE DIFFERENCES EXIST IN MODEL PRECIP FORECASTS TONIGHT INTO EARLY MONDAY...THEY ARE VERY SIMILAR WITH GENERATING SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL FROM MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING ACROSS CWA. THUS HIGHEST POPS WILL BE DURING THAT PERIOD. SINCE MODELS TIMING OF TROUGH CONSISTENT WITH EACH OTHER, TIMING OF DRY WEATHER FOR TUESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY ALSO LOOKS VERY GOOD, AND IS CONSISTENT WITH GOING FORECAST. 12Z AVN AND 00 MRF HINT AT PRECIP RETURNING THURSDAY NIGHT OR FRIDAY ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK SHORTWAVE AND WARM ADVECTION. WILL KEEP DRY FORECAST GOING AS NOT CONFIDENT WEAK SYSTEM DAY 5 JUSTIFIES ADDING POPS. WHILE MRF WOULD BRING PRECIP BACK NEXT SUNDAY WITH ANOTHER FRONTAL PASSAGE, TIMING OF SYSTEM DAY 7 QUESTIONABLE AND 00Z MRF 500 MB FORECAST FOR THAT TIME INCONSISTENT WITH ENSEMBLE MEAN. BIGGEST TEMPERATURE PROBLEMS FOR MON AND TUES WITH WIDE VARIATION IN GUIDANCE FORECASTS, PARTICULARLY MONDAY. ETA MOS GOES 97 FOR MHK ON MONDAY WHILE MAV GOES 82. WILL NOT GO TOWARD EITHER EXTEME BUT EXPECT HIGHS TO BE NEAR OR ABOVE FWC VALUES IN UPPER 80S TO LOW 90S. COOL DAY ON TUESDAY BEHIND FRONT WITH 70S IN CLOUDS, RAIN AND NORTHERLY WIND. TOP...NONE 60
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
450 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0345 PM CORNING KS 65 MPH TSTM GUST
08/11/02 NEMAHA REPORTED BY A SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
615 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0600 PM WAMEGO KS 1 INCH HAIL
08/11/02 POTTAWATOMIE REPORTED BY A SPOTTER.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 hail, 2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Quarter size hail fell for over 5 minutes west of Wamego. No damage reports were received.
Lightning struck a church and did minor damage to the roof.
Lightning struck a boat and ignited a fire doing some damage to the boat as well as a nearby boat.
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, August 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: 5311878, 5311879, 5311880, 5311881, 5311882.