Flash Flooding in Missouri, December 18, 2002

Name: Flash Flooding in Missouri, December 18, 2002
Start: 2002-12-18T12:00
End: 2002-12-18T17:00
Location: Missouri

December 18, 2002 · NWS LSX · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Heavy rain triggered flash flooding across the area. Several creeks across the area flooded closing numerous roads.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS LSX wrote it up.

Heavy rain triggered flash flooding across the area. Several creeks across the area flooded closing numerous roads. Highway 40 in St. Charles County had to be closed for a while due to flooding. In south St. Louis County, the intersection of I-44 and Highway 141 had to be closed due to high water.

What forecasters said that day

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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 18, 6:43 AM CST, 5 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 18, 6:43 AM CST, 5 hours 17 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
500 AM CST WED DEC 18 2002

NUMEROUS SHRA AND TSRA CONT TO DVLP OVR CNTRL AND NERN MO AHD OF STG
SHRTWV TROF MOVG NEWD THRU ERN KS.  TSRA ACRS SWRN MO APR TO HAVE
WKND SOME AND HAVE BCM LESS NUMEROUS.  FOCUS FOR NEW TSRA DVLPNT
THIS MRNG MAY BE ACRS NERN MO W CNTRL IL AS LATEST RUC SHOWS STGST
850 MB MOISTURE CNVG AND THETA E ADVCTN ON NOSE OF STG 50 KT SWLY
LLJ IN THIS AREA.  POTENTIAL FOR SHRA AND TSRA SHOULD SLOWLY SHIFT
EWD BY THIS AFTN AND EVNG AS LLJ AND ASSOCIATED TEMP AND THETA E
ADVCTN TRANSLATES EWD INTO IL WITH DRIER 850 MB DWPTS PUSHING INTO
THE NRN AND WRN PTNS OF THE CWA.  ETA MDL CONTS TO INDICATE
RELATIVELY STG UPR DIVERGENCE S AND E OF STL TGT AND WILL PUT
HIGHEST POPS OVR ERN AND SRN PTNS OF THE CWA TGT.  DIFFICULT TO FIND
SFC CDFNT IN SFC WND FIELD WITH ONLY A GRADUAL VEERING OF THE WNDS.
BASED ON ETA SFC DWPT ANALYS IT APRS THE CDFNT WILL PUSH SEWD THRU
STL DURG THE EVNG HOURS AND SHOULD BE SE OF THE ENTR CWA ARND 12Z
THU WITH SFC DWPTS DROPPING INTO THE 30S OVR THE NRN AND WRN PTNS OF
THE  CWA...ALTHOUGH COLDER AIR LAGGING WELL BHND THE CDFNT ON THE
ETA MDL.  TIME SECTIONS ON THE MDLS SHOW GOOD DRYING OF THE LOW-MID
LVL MOISTURE LTR TGT AND EARLY THU.  MAV AND FWC MOS GUIDANCE MAY
HAVE TOO MUCH CLOUD CVR ON THU AND WILL LEAN TOWARD MET
GUIDANCE...ALTHOUGH NOT AS WRM AS ITS HI TEMPS.

.STL...NONE

GKS

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 18, 8:15 AM CST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027-034>036
-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-191200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED EXPIRATION TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
815 AM CST WED DEC 18 2002

THIS OUTLOOK COVERS CENTRAL AND EASTERN MISSOURI AND WEST CENTRAL
AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY INTO THIS
EVENING ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND A PORTION OF SOUTHWEST
ILLINOIS.  THE MODERATE RISK AREA IS ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE
EXTENDING FROM JEFFERSON CITY EAST NORTHEAST THROUGH ALTON
ILLINOIS.  THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ST LOUIS...CUBA...
FARMINGTON... ANNAPOLIS...FREDERICKTOWN...BELLEVILLE...AND CHESTER.
THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE IN THIS AREA CONTAINING LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REST OF
THE OUTLOOK AREA FOR TODAY INTO THIS EVENING.  SOME CITIES IN THE
SLIGHT RISK AREA INCLUDE COLUMBIA...HANNIBAL AND QUINCY.
THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE IN THIS AREA AND PRODUCE LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

THUNDERSTORMS...POSSIBLY SEVERE WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP TODAY INTO
THIS EVENING IN THE UNSEASONABLY WARM AND HUMID ENVIRONMENT OVER THE
BI-STATE REGION AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTERS SHOULD STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION ABOUT POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER TODAY AND THIS EVENING.

GKS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 18, 8:48 AM CST, 3 hours 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
848 AM CST WED DEC 18 2002

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0230 AM    5NW JEFFERSON CITY        MO   0.75 INCH HAIL
12/18/02   COLE                           REPORTED BY SEVERE
                                          WEATHER SPOTTERS.

Local storm report, Dec 18, 10:43 AM CST, 1 hour 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
1043 AM CST WED DEC 18 2002

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1010 AM    5SW EDWARDSVILLE          IL   1.00 INCH HAIL
12/18/02   MADISON                        REPORTED BY SEVERE
                                          WEATHER SPOTTER AT
                                          INTERSECTION OF
                                          INTERSTATE 270 AND
                                          HIGHWAY 111.

Local storm report, Dec 18, 11:36 AM CST, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
1136 AM CST WED DEC 18 2002

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1110 AM    7N LA BELLE               MO   WIND DAMAGE
12/18/02   LEWIS                          PUBLIC REPORTED TREES
                                          DOWNED NEAR THE
                                          INTERSECTION OF HIGWAYS K
                                          AND Y.

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Franklin

When: December 18, 12:00 PM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Franklin County, North Portion
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.411, -91.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, St. Charles

When: December 18, 12:30 PM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: St. Charles County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.782, -90.675 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, St. Louis

When: December 18, 12:30 PM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: St. Louis County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.641, -90.443 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, St. Louis (C)

When: December 18, 12:30 PM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: St. Louis (C) County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.627, -90.198 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, December 2002

Sources

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: 5325133, 5325134, 5325135, 5325136.