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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 20, 1:51 PM EST, 4 hours 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 251 PM EDT FRI SEP 20 2002 ...FORECAST ISSUES... TIMING OF FRONTAL PASSAGE ALONG WITH POPS. SEVERE WEATHER A CONCERN ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. ...SHORT TERM... IN THE VERY NEAR TERM...MAIN CONCERN IS SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL. LARGE LINE OF STORMS OUT TO OUR WEST EXTENDING FROM KFWA SOUTHWEST ALL THE WAY TO JUST EAST OF KMEM IS SLOWLY MOVING EAST WITH INDIVIDUAL STORMS MOVING NORTHEAST ALONG THE MAIN LINE. FURTHER EAST OVER IN OUR NECK OF THE WOODS...WE HAVE HAD PARTLY SUNNY SKIES FOR MOST OF THE MORNING AND JUST CHECKED ASOS AND ITS REPORTING 87 OVER 69. LATEST LAPS/MSAS ANALYSIS SHOWING NICE INSTABILITY ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY WITH CAPES APPROACHING 2000 J/KG AND LIS DROPPING TO AROUND -6. RECENT RADAR PICS SHOWING CONVECTION ALREADY ERUPTING IN THIS INSTABILITY AXIS. AS FAR AS SEVERE POTENTIAL...MORNING 12Z UPPER AIR ANALYSIS SHOWING 40-50 KT MID LEVEL FLOW OVER WESTERN KENTUCKY THIS MORNING AND EXPECT THIS TO TRANSLATE EAST TO OUR AREA LATER TONIGHT. AT THIS POINT THINK THAT DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE PRIMARY MODE OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS OUR AREA WITH BOWING SEGMENTS. NOW AS TO THE FORECAST...PLAN ON GOING WITH HIGH POPS TONIGHT WITH THE FRONT MAKING ITS WAY TOWARD THE REGION. ALMOST ALL THE MOS GUIDANCE GOING AROUND 80 TO 90 POPS AND I PLAN ON GOING WITH 90 OVER THE WESTERN 2/3RDS OF OUR CWA AND A 70 POP ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHEAST. WITH THE DECENT AMOUNT OF WAA WE HAVE SEEN THIS AFTERNOON THINK THAT TEMPS WILL NOT COOL OFF AS MUCH TONIGHT...SO PLAN ON STAYING A FEW DEGREES ABOVE MOS FOR LOWS...LOOKS LIKE UPPER 60S SHOULD WORK FINE. ALSO WITH GOOD DIVERGENCE ALOFT AND WITH OUR AREA IN THE RRQ OF THE 300 HPA JET...WILL ALSO MENTION HEAVY RAIN IN THE ZONES. FOR SATURDAY...FRONTAL BOUNDARY CONTINUES TO WORK ITS WAY THROUGH THE REGION SO PLAN ON CARRYING LIKELY POPS ALL AROUND. FRONT PRESSES IS FORECAST TO PRESS THROUGH SAT AFTERNOON AND PLAN ON TAPERING OFF POPS FROM WEST TO EAST DURING THE NIGHT SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY MORNING. WILL HOLD ON TO A SLIGHT CHANCE POPS OVER THE FAR SOUTHEAST FOR SUNDAY MAINLY FOR ANY LEFT OVER MORNING ACTIVITY. OTHERWISE...PLAN ON GOING WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. ...LONG TERM... GFS MODEL SOLUTION CONTINUES TO SHOW LARGE MEAN TROF PARKED OVER THE EASTERN CONUS THROUGH THE PERIOD. SEVERAL H5 WAVES WILL ROTATE THROUGH THE TROF...BUT THEY WILL BE FAR ENOUGH NORTH NOT TO HAVE MUCH OF AN INFLUENCE ON OUR WEATHER OTHER THAN A SLIGHT INCREASE IN CLOUD COVER. AT THE SURFACE...LARGE AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE THE DOMINANT WEATHER FEATURE RESULTING IN PARTLY SUNNY DAYS AND MOSTLY CLEAR NIGHTS. NO REAL SIGNS OF RAIN FOR NEXT WEEK AT THIS TIME. TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO LOOK SEASONABLE WITH AFTERNOON HIGHS IN THE MID 70S AND OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE 50 TO 55 DEGREE RANGE. WENT SLIGHTLY ABOVE MEX NUMBERS FOR THIS CYCLE. ...GRIDS... FORECAST DATABASE IN GOOD SHAPE. DID RELOAD NEW DAY 7 DATA FROM THE GFS. ONLY MINOR TWEAKS WERE DONE TO ALL THE ELEMENTS TO REPRESENT UPCOMING FORECAST. ...PRELIM NUMBERS... LOZ 67/79 61/81 9621 JKL 67/79 62/81 9621 .JKL...NONE. JARVIS ==================================================================== MORNING DISCUSSION... 225 AM EDT FRI SEP 20 2002 MAIN FCST CONCERNS ARE IN THE SHORT TERM AND CONCERN POPS...TIMING OF THE FRONT AND ENDING OF THE PCPN...SLIGHT CHC SVR STORMS THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING...AND POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY PCPN LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY TOMORROW MORNING. SFC CHART EARLY THIS MORNING SHOWING SOME WEAK EMBEDDED TROFFS OVER THE OHIO/TN VALLEY WITH THE MAIN FROM FROM WI TO A LOW OVER SE IOWA THEN ON DOWN ACROSS MO INTO WEST AR. SAT PICS SHOWING FAIR AMOUNT OF CI WITH SOME MID LVL CLOUDS DRIFTING THRU. RADARS ARE QUIET OTHER THAN THE SHRA/TSRA ACTIVITY OVER W TN/KY AND ON UP INTO IN AND OH. MODELS THIS MORNING ARE MOVING THE FRONT AND PCPN ACROSS THE CWA ON SAT A BIT FASTER THAN IN PREV RUNS. I AM A BIT RELUCTANT TO TOTALLY BUY INTO HOW FAST TO MOVE THE PCPN OUT OF THE AREA THOUGH (SAT EVENING OR OVERNIGHT OR SUN MORNING). LATEST ETA/AVN/NGM RUNS MOVING THE PCPN ON TO THE EAST COMPLETELY DURING THE NIGHT SAT. PLAN ON LEAVING THE DATABASE MORE OR LESS AS IS RIGHT NOW FOR SAT NIGHT AND SUNDAY AND LET DAYSHIFT TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT IT. MAIN CHANGE RIGHT NOW IS TO HIT THE POPS HARDER TONIGHT AND A BIT HARDER ON SAT. LOOKS LIKE THE BEST LIFT/DYNAMICS ARE FROM 06Z TONIGHT UNTIL AROUND 18Z SAT. PLAN ON RAISING POPS TO AROUND 80 PERCENT TONIGHT (CAT POPS) AND 60 PERCENT ON SAT. NEXT QUESTION IS SLIGHT RISK SVR THIS AFTERNOON. BASED ON THE STABILITY THIS AFTERNOON ONE COULDNT TOTALLY RULE OUT A STRAY STRONG STORM OR TWO DURING THE PEAK HEATING HOURS IF THE CLOUD COVER DOESNT HOLD BACK THE INSTABILITY SOME...WILL GO AHEAD AN ISSUE AN SPS LATER THIS MORNING FOR THIS. NEXT QUESTION IS HEAVY PCPN TONIGHT. VERY GOOD DIV ALOFT SETTING UP WITH GOOD UVVS AND PWS UP OVER 2.0 TONIGHT ALONG WITH GOOD THETA-E IN PLACE. PRETTY DECENT LOWER AND UPPER LEVEL JET DYNAMICS ALSO. DONT THINK WE ARE TALKING FLOODING PROBLEMS OR ANYTHING BUT THINK SOME GOOD RAINERS ARE POSSIBLE. WILL MAKE MENTION IN THE ZONES. SUNDAY IS QUESTIONABLE BASED ON TIMING OF THE FRONT/PCPN OUT OF THE AREA. AS MENTIONED ABOVE...PLAN ON LEAVING SLIGHT CHC POPS IN THE EAST FOR THE MORNING PERIOD AND NONE IN THE WEST. 00Z MAV/AVN RUN IS DOWN PLAYING POPS A LITTLE TOO MUCH I THINK AND SEEMS A LITTLE WARM FOR HIGH TEMPS ON SUNDAY. THE AVN PLAN VIEWS SEEM TO BE A LITTLE LIGHT ON THE PCPN ALSO AND IM LEANING MUCH MORE TOWARD THE ETA MODELS FOR THE PCPN/RH FIELDS. MON-THU STILL LOOKS QUIET AND NO CHANGES PLANNED AT THIS TIME TO THE DATABASE. GFE/IFPS...OVERALL THE DATABASE LOOKS GOOD. MADE CHANGES TO POPS AND 1 HR POP FIELDS AS MENTIONED ABOVE. DID NOT ADD ANY NEW MODEL DATA. ISC GRIDS HAVE BEEN SENT. MOS...LEANING A LITTLE MORE TOWARD A BLEND OF THE ETA/NGM MOS TODAY VERSUS THE AVN MOS. WORK ZONES OUT BEFORE TOO LONG UNDER SDFOZJKL. THANKS FOR CHAT ROOM COORDINATION. HALL
KYZ044-050>052-058>060-068-069-079-080-083>088-104-106>120-210400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 200 PM EDT FRI SEP 20 2002 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE IN EASTERN KENTUCKY TODAY... THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS INDICATED THAT A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS ACROSS EASTERN KENTUCKY. A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE TOWARD THE AREA TONIGHT...WITH VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR USHERED IN AHEAD OF IT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS TONIGHT. HEAVY RAIN MAY ALSO ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS. THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE WIND DAMAGE AS FLOW AT MID LEVELS WILL BE STRONG. FAST STORM MOTION WILL ENHANCE WIND DAMAGE POTENTIAL. STORMS MAY EVOLVE INTO SQUALL LINES WITH BOWING SEGMENTS. ISOLATED TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH ANY SUPERCELLS THAT DEVELOP. RESIDENTS OF EASTERN KENTUCKY SHOULD STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR UPDATES. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATER TODAY. HEINLEIN
KYZ044-050>052-058>060-068-069-079-080-083>088-104-106>120-210400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED TO INCLUDE TONIGHT IN HEADER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 200 PM EDT FRI SEP 20 2002 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE IN EASTERN KENTUCKY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS INDICATED THAT A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS ACROSS EASTERN KENTUCKY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE TOWARD THE AREA TONIGHT...WITH VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR USHERED IN AHEAD OF IT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS TONIGHT. HEAVY RAIN MAY ALSO ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS. THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE WIND DAMAGE AS FLOW AT MID LEVELS WILL BE STRONG. FAST STORM MOTION WILL ENHANCE WIND DAMAGE POTENTIAL. STORMS MAY EVOLVE INTO SQUALL LINES WITH BOWING SEGMENTS. ISOLATED TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH ANY SUPERCELLS THAT DEVELOP. RESIDENTS OF EASTERN KENTUCKY SHOULD STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR UPDATES. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATER TODAY. HEINLEIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees and power lines were down from a non-thunderstorm gust front.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, September 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: 5320083.