A thunderstorm produced a localized downburst of wind between 60 and 70 MPH about 2 miles southwest of Urbana. An area roughly one quarter mile square just south of the intersection of Peters Road and Thurston Road sustained heavy tree damage.
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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 episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
A thunderstorm produced a localized downburst of wind between 60 and 70 MPH about 2 miles southwest of Urbana. An area roughly one quarter mile square just south of the intersection of Peters Road and Thurston Road sustained heavy tree damage. Pine, walnut, and sycamore trees were either snapped or pushed over with the roots still attached. Some of the trees landed on fencing and a vehicle. Other downed trees blocked Peters Road.
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 Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 23, 1:05 PM EST, 5 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON 205 PM EDT FRI AUG 23 2002 SHORT TERM...TNGT THRU SAT NGT... SIGNIFICANT RAIN??? WE SHALL SEE... GENERALLY ZNL FLOW ACRS THE NRN HALF OF THE COUNTRY WITH SUBTROPICAL RIDGE ACRS THE DEEP SOUTH. OUR AREA REMAINS ON THE SRN EDGE OF THE WESTERLIES WITH WEAK SHORTWAVES TRAVERSING THROUGH THE WESTERLIES. AT THE SFC...A BOUNDARY HAS PUSHED SWD INTO THE NRN ZNS BUT SHOULD NOT PUSH ANY FURTHER S TNGT SINCE IT HAS BECOME PARALLEL TO THE UPR LVL FLOW. IN ADDTN...WEAK SHORTWAVES WILL INDUCE WEAK SFC WAVES ALG THE BOUNDARY TNGT THRU SAT. UPR LVL TROF OVR THE WRN U.S. WEAKENS AND IS REPLACED BY RIDGING NEXT 48 HRS. THE DOWNSTREAM RESULT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN UPR LVL TROF OVR THE NE U.S. BY SAT. A SHORTWAVE JUST W OF HUDSON BAY THIS AFTRN WILL DROP SEWD AIDING IN CARVING OUT THE DVLPG UPR LVL TROF WITH THE SHORTWAVE PUSHING THRU NEW ENG BY 12Z SUN. THIS IS THE FEATURE THAT WILL FINALLY SHOVE THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY OFF TO OUR E BY EARLY SAT EVE. PWATS ARE HIGH TNGT INTO SAT...OVR 2 INCHES. HOWEVER...MODELS HAVE BEEN OSCILLATING QUITE A BIT WITH QPF THE LAST FEW RUNS AND WE HAVE SEEN PWATS OVR 2 INCHES MANY TIMES THIS SUMMER WITH PATHETIC RESULTS. GIVEN THE HISTORY OF THIS DRY SUMMER...PREFER TO PLAY POPS AND QPF CONSERVATIVE FOR NOW. HIGHEST CHC POPS WILL BE N NEAR THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WITH LESSER POPS SRN ZNS. THINK QPF WILL AVERAGE 1/2 INCH OR LESS WITH THE HIGHEST AMTS NEAR THE PA LINE. THESE AMTS WILL NOT DO MUCH IN RELIEVING DROUGHT CONDITIONS. WE NEED SEVERAL DAYS OF WIDESPREAD RAIN TO EVEN START TO ALLEVIATE THE DROUGHT CONDITIONS AND THAT TYPE OF SITUATION WOULD BE RARE THIS TIME OF YEAR. HEAT INDICES HAVE REACHED CRITERIA IN THE ADVISORY AREA SO WILL LEAVE THE ADVISORY UP UNTIL 8 PM SRN ZNS. NGM/AVN AND ETA MOS TEMPS CLOSE AND ACCEPTED WITH ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS. WALSTON LONGER...SUN THRU FRI... AFTR PASSAGE OF FNT SAT NGT WINDS GO NW...ATMOSPHERE DRYING...WL RMV POPS OVNGT SAT NGT AND SUN. THEN WE SHOULD BE ABLE SAY GOODBYE TO 90+ TEMPS FOR THE NEXT WRK WK. ITLL STILL BE IN THE M80S DURG DAY/60S AT NGT...BUT MORE COMFORTABLE THAN WEVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. MON AND TUE SHOULD BE MSUN DAYS W/ CD FNT WELL OFF CST/DRAPED ACROSS THE CAROLINAS. MDLS CONTINUE TO DVLP WK CLOSED LOW OVR THE SERN U.S. WHICH DRIFTS SLOWLY N INTO MIDWEEK. WL GRADUALLY INCRS CLD CVRG TUE-THU AND ADD CHC POPS...ALTHO VERY LOW QPF. WOODY .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 800 PM EDT TONIGHT FOR ZONES MDZ016>018. VA...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 800 PM EDT TONIGHT FOR ZONES VAZ025>026...VAZ029...VAZ036>040...VAZ050>051...VAZ055>057. WV...NONE.
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:43 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A downburst of winds estimated between 60 and 70 MPH downed several trees.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Maryland in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Maryland, 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: 5314548.