2 hail, 1 lightning, 1 thunderstorm 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 Aug 22, 2:23 AM CST, 8 hours 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 323 AM CDT THU AUG 22 2002 PRECIPITATION CHANCES THROUGH SATURDAY REMAIN THE PRIMARY FORECAST CHALLENGE. SPLIT FLOW ENTRENCHED OVER WESTERN NORTH AMERICA THIS MORNING WITH 100KT 250MB AIRREPS WEST OF SAN DIEGO AND 130KT JET AROUND THE BOTTOM OF THE HUDSON BAY LOW. HEIGHTS WITH THE NORTHWEST CONUS LOW BEGINNING TO RISE WITH SEVERAL WAVES OVER THE MID LEVEL BAROCLINIC ZONE FROM DESERT SOUTHWEST TO NORTHERN PLAINS. 06Z SURFACE MAP PUT COLD FRONT FROM CYS ACROSS NORTHERN NEBRASKA TO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN. ISOLATED PRECIPITATION CONTINUES TO FORM OVER THE NORTHERN ZONES DUE TO OUTFLOW SPREADING SOUTH FROM EASTERN NEBRASKA MCS. COLD FRONT AND OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES SHOULD CONTINUE TO PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE ZONES TODAY. LITTLE IF ANY CAP IN PLACE SO MORE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS SEEN LIKELY. KEPT HIGHS NEAR GOING NUMBERS FROM THE UPPER 80S NORTH TO THE MID 90S SOUTH BASED ON BOUNDARY TIMING. MID LEVEL COOLING WITH UPPER TROF OVER ARIZONA AT 00Z SHOULD ENTER CENTRAL KANSAS TONIGHT AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL LIFT OVER THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. 850MB JET/MOISTURE CONVERGENCE SHOULD BE MAXIMIZED SOMEWHERE OVER NORTHEASTERN KANSAS AND WILL CONTINUE TO SHOTGUN CHANCE POPS. AIDED BY OUTFLOW AND THE UPPER TROF PASSAGE, FRONT SHOULD BE FAR ENOUGH SOUTH TO KEEP MOST ZONES DRY FRIDAY. EXCEPTION MAY BE THE SOUTHERN ZONES WHERE FRONT WILL BE CLOSEST AND WILL KEEP SMALL POPS HERE. WILL DROP TEMPS A FEW DEGREES FROM TODAYS EXPECTED HIGHS. LOW LEVEL BAROCLINIC ZONE LAYING OVER THE FRONT RANGE OF THE ROCKIES SHOULD PROVIDE FOCUS FOR MCS-LIKE ACTIVITY TO THE WEST FRIDAY NIGHT BUT WITH DECENT MID LEVEL FLOW, IT MAY SKIRT THE WESTERN ZONES AFTER MIDNIGHT. LIGHT WINDS AND LOWER DEWPOINTS SHOULD ALLOW TEMPS TO DROP INTO THE MID TO UPPER 60S. AS FOR THE EXTENDED, STRONG SOUTHERN BRANCH STILL PROGGED TO BE IN PLACE OVER THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES WITH WEAK EMBEDDED WAVES LIKELY PASSING THROUGH. AVN SHOWING SPEED MAX MOVING ACROSS THE ROCKIES SATURDAY WHICH MAY TRY TO BRING THE FRONT BACK NORTH AND WILL INTRODUCE SLIGHT CHANCE POPS. .TOP...NONE. 65
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:19 UTC.
2 hail, 1 lightning, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree, then passed through the air and struck the umbrella of a nearby female passerby producing minor injuries to the 21 year old female.
Large hail broke windows on a residence north of Admire.
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: 5311893, 5311894, 5311947, 5311948.