1 lightning, 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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 26, 2:35 PM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
335 PM CDT FRI JUL 26 2002
FORECAST CONCERNS CENTER AROUND PRECIP NEXT FEW DAYS AND TEMPS
GENERALLY.
SYNOPSIS...MID LEVEL CONVERGENT MOIST BAND HAS CONTINUED TO GENERATE
SHWRS AND TSTMS S CNTRL TO E CNTRL NEB AND SW IA THIS AFTN. THIS HAS
GREATLY STRENTHENED SFC FRONT NRN KS...WHICH APPEARS CLOSE TO
DESTABILIZATION PER RECENT MCD. NEXT IN A SERIES OF UPPER TROUGHS
APPEARS TO BE MOVING THRU HIGH PLAINS.
FORECAST...RAPID CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT LIKELY NEAR BOUNDARY...AND
ENHANCEMENT TO ONGOING CONVECTION OVER SRN AND CNTRL ZONES. BEST CHC
FOR PRECIP EARLY TNGT BEFORE UPPER TROUGH MOVES EAST.
HARD TO TELL JUST HOW HOT IT WILL GET SAT AS WEAK CDFNT MOVES INTO
AREA. BELIEVE DEW POINTS AS WELL AS TEMPS WILL RISE TO THE SE OF
THIS BOUNDARY SAT AFTN...RATHER LIKE MKC AREA THIS AFTN. WILL ISSUE
A HEAT ADVISORY FOR SOUTH COUNTIES...BUT NOT OMA OR LNK WHICH MAY
REMAIN JUST NORTH OF 105 HI IN SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR AND A LITTLE
BETTER MIXING. BEST CHC TSTMS SAT EVE AND NIGHT LIES AHEAD OF
CDFNT IN MOIST AIR.
ATMOSPHERE RELOADS SUNDAY IN WEAK RETURN FLOW AHEAD OF FINAL UPPER
TROUGH...SETTING THE STAGE FOR A POSSIBLE MCS SUN NIGHT INTO EARLY
MON.
NOT MUCH CHC OF RAIN IN EXTENDED...ALTHOUGH THERE APPEARS TO BE SOME
CHC FOR A WARM ADVN EVENT TUE NIGHT. TEMPS SHOULD BE QUITE HOT AGAIN
BY LATER IN THE WEEK AS UPPER RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD AND WE GET INTO
A PREFRONTAL POSITION FAVORED FOR HEAT.
.OMA...HEAT ADVISORY SATURDAY AFTN AND EVE IN FAR SE NEB AND SW IOWA
NEZ068-088>093-IAZ080-090-091
POLLACKIAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-262300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1150 AM CDT FRI JUL 26 2002 STORM SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED OVER SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF IOWA BETWEEN 4 PM AND MIDNIGHT. A NEARLY STATIONARY FRONT IN NORTHERN KANSAS SEPARATES HOT... HUMID...AND INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AIR OVER KANSAS...FROM RAIN COOLED AND MORE STABLE AIR OVER SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY TO DEVELOP NEAR THE FRONT LATE THIS AFTERNOON...AND COULD MOVE INTO SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA THIS EVENING. DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE FROM THESE STORMS THIS EVENING...BUT THE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO WEAKEN BY MIDNIGHT. UNSETTLED WEATHER IS LIKELY TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE WEEKEND... AS A FRONT REMAINS DRAPED ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS...AND A SERIES OF UPPER DISTURBANCES MOVE EAST OUT OF THE ROCKIES. THE GREATEST RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT HOURS...BOTH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGIC AND CLIMATIC INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/OAX OR AT WEATHER.GOV (LOWER CASE). POLLACK
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:22 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a painting company's building causing a fire which destroyed the building and around $200,000 in contents.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, July 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: 5307902.