1 winter storm, 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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 7, 4:00 PM CST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
400 PM CST THU MAR 7 2002
MIXTURE OF PRECIPITATION EXPANDING RAPIDLY ACROSS NRN AND WRN PTNS
OF CWA IN RESPONSE TO SURGE OF WARM AIR ADVECTION AND ISENTROPIC
LIFT. LATEST PROFILER PLOT SHOWS 45 TO 50 LLJ HAS NOW PIVOTED
EASTWARD...WITH THE NOSE OF THE JET NOW INTO THE SWRN MN VCNTY. MIX
OF SNOW AND SLEET AT MPX WITH SFC REPORTS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE
ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE CONTINUES TO INCREASE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS...AND
GRADUALLY BEGINS TO DIMINISH FROM WEST TO EAST DURING THE NIGHT.
LOW LEVEL THICKNESS AND ETA BUKIT SOUNDINGS CONTINUE TO FAVOR MIX OF
SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN IN SRN AREAS WITH MORE SNOW IN THE MIX IN
STRIP FROM KMVE TO KMSP. ONGOING WINTER STORM WARNING STILL LOOKS
LIKE BEST BET FOR HEAVIEST SNOW AROUND 6 INCHES.
DESCREPANCIES BETWEEN MODEL GUIDANCE IN SECOND STORM FOR LTR FRI
INTO FRI NIGHT. AVN HANGS ON TO WARMER LOW LEVEL THICKNESSES
INITIALLY BEFORE THE COOLING SETTLES INTO THE EASTERN SECTIONS FRI
NIGHT. AVN/NGM ALSO FARTHER WEST WITH SFC LOW...CARRYING ACRS FAR
SERN MN FRI NIGHT...WHILE CANADIAN AND ETA MORE TO THE EAST.
DESPITE DIFFERENCES...ETA SHOWING 85H CIRCULATION FARTHER
WEST...MORE IN LN WITH AVN GUIDANCE. MIXING RATIOS OF 3 TO 4 G/KG
RETURNS WITH SECOND SYSTEM. IN ADDITION...EXPC STRONG WINDS TO
DEVELOP IN WRN AREAS FRI NIGHT. HENCE DUE TO UNCERTAINTY IN LOW
LEVEL THICKNESSES...WL ONLY ISSUE WINTER STORM WATCH IN WRN AND SWRN
AREAS FOR FRI AFTN INTO FRI NGT...WITH TIME TO EXAMINE OTHER AREAS
WITH 00Z GUIDANCE...AS BULK OF PRECIP IN THESE AREAS SHOULD HOLD OFF
UNTIL LATE FRI INTO FRI NIGHT.
.MSP...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH MIDNIGHT MNZ 042>045..050-052
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TONIGHT WIZ015-016..024>028.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH MIDNIGHT MNZ041..047>049..
051..054>070..073>078..082>085..091>093.
WINTER STORM WATCH FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY NIGHT
MNZ041..047>049..054>058..064-065..073>076..082-083..091-092.
KAVINSKYThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A warm front which developed over central Minnesota in advance of a low pressure system over eastern Colorado, was the mechanism which allowed moisture laden air from the south to produce 6 to 7 inches of snow in Kanabec county, just north of Mora.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, March 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: 5286094.