Heat in Missouri, July 26 to 31, 2002

Name: Heat in Missouri, July 26 to 31, 2002
Start: 2002-07-26T11:00
End: 2002-07-31T23:00
Location: Missouri

July 26 to 31, 2002 · NWS LSX · 22 events in 22 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 22 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: 185
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 22

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.

High temperatures across Central, Eastern and Southeast Missouri rose to the middle to upper 90's with Heat Indices from 105 to near 115 degrees. There was a one day break in the heat as a weak cold front dropped high temperatures into the upper 80's on July29. However temperatures quickly rebounded and remained high into August. About 100 people had to be treated for heat related illnesses at the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game on July 27.

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 Jul 25, 2:15 PM CST, 20 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 2:15 PM CST, 20 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
315 PM CDT THU JUL 25 2002

UPPER RIDGE DRFNG E OVR MO SAT AND SUN.  850MB TEMPS 20-25 IN MO
WL BRING TEMPS IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S WITH DEWPOINT IN THE LOWER TO
MID 70S...THIS WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX ABOVE 100 TO NEAR 110 DURING
THE AFTERNOON.  KEEP WTCH OUT FOR FRI THRU SUNDAY...LET NIGHT SHIFT
ISSUED AND HEAT WARNING FOR THE PD.  ALSO KP HEAT WRNG FOR CITY OF
STL THRU MON.

ALSO...AN MCS WL BE POSSIBLE TO DEVELP OVERNIGHT IN NEB AND
IOWA...COULD EFFECT NRN AND NE MO...GO WITH OCNL FOR SHOWERS AND
TSTMS FOR TNGT...ALL MDLS AGR WITH OVER ONE INCH OF PCPN.

MDLS ARE PUSHNG A COLD FRNT INTO MO MON...I THINK WL STALL ACRS
CNTRL MO...WL NOT MAKE THRU MO.  I THINK THERE A GOOD CHC FOR TSTMS
ACRS STATE ON MON AND MON NGHT.

LONG RANGE MRF SHOWED UPPER RIDGE BUILD-UP ACRS MO FRM WED THRU
WEEK-END. SO INCRS TEMPS FEW DGRS THRU FRI.

.STL...EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH I-70 CORRIDOR AND SOUTH SAT THRU MON.
EXCESSIVE HEAT WRNG FOR STL SAT THRU MON.

VA

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 26, 6:56 AM CST, 4 hours 4 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>075-084-085-099-261800-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
755 AM CDT WED JUL 24 2002

HAZARDS THROUGH TONIGHT...
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT
NORTH OF A LINE FROM SPARTA ILLINOIS IN RANDOLPH COUNTY ILLINOIS TO
HILLSBORO MISSOURI TO JEFFERSON CITY MISSOURI. VERY WARM AND HUMID
AIR WILL DEVELOP SOUTH OF THE FRONT WITH THE COMBINATION OF
TEMPERATURES AND HUMIDITIES MEETING AND EXCEEDING HEAT WARNING
CRITERIA FOR THE CITY OF ST LOUIS TODAY.

DISCUSSION...
A COOL FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL BECOME STATIONARY OVER NORTHEAST
MISSOURI AND BECOME THE FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
SATURDAY MORNING. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE
HAIL AND GUSTY SURFACE WINDS THE PRIMARY THREAT.

THE OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY...
HOT CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE REGION AND AN EXCESSIVE HEAT
WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THAT PORTION OF THE WARNING AREA SOUTH OF A
ROODHOUSE ILL-WARRENTON MO-CUBA-MO LINE.

&&

THIS PRODUCT WILL BE ISSUED BETWEEN 6 AND 8 AM DAILY...AND WILL BE
UPDATED AS NEEDED.  FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON A PARTICULAR
HAZARD...MAKE SURE TO REFER TO THE ZONE FORECASTS AND THE ACTUAL
WATCH...WARNING OR ADVISORY PRODUCT.

BECHTOLD

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

22 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Audrain

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Audrain forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 39.216, -91.842 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Boone

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Boone forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.991, -92.310 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Callaway

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Callaway forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.836, -91.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Cole

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Cole forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.505, -92.282 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Crawford

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Crawford forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.976, -91.304 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Franklin

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Franklin forecast zone
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.411, -91.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Gasconade

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Gasconade forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.441, -91.508 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Iron

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Iron forecast zone
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.504, -90.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Jefferson

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.261, -90.538 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Lincoln

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Lincoln forecast zone
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 39.058, -90.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Madison

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Madison forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.478, -90.345 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Moniteau

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Moniteau forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.633, -92.583 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Montgomery

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.942, -91.470 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Osage

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Osage forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.460, -91.862 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Reynolds

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Reynolds forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.362, -90.969 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, St. Charles

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: St. Charles forecast zone
Injuries: 4 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.782, -90.675 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, St. Francois

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: St. Francois forecast zone
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.810, -90.472 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, St. Louis

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: St. Louis forecast zone
Injuries: 40 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.641, -90.443 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, St. Louis (C)

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: St. Louis (C) forecast zone
Injuries: 120 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.627, -90.198 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Ste. Genevieve

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Ste. Genevieve forecast zone
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.894, -90.194 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Warren

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.765, -91.161 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Washington

When: July 26, 11:00 AM CST to July 31, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.962, -90.877 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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, July 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: 5303225, 5303226, 5303227, 5303228, 5303229, 5303230, 5303231, 5303232, 5303233, 5303234, 5303235, 5303236, 5303237, 5303316, 5303317, 5303318, 5303319, 5303320, 5303321, 5303322, 5303323, 5303324.