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 Binghamton, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 22, 9:30 AM EST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY 1030 AM EDT THU AUG 22 2002 WILL UPDATE ZONES TO FRESHEN WORDING AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO CLOUDY COVER AND MAX TEMPS ACROSS WRN/NRN ZONES. CURRENT TRENDS ON LOCAL RADARS SHOWS A GENERAL WEAKENING OF CONVECTION. H5 VORT MAX MOVING ACROSS NRN SHORE OF LK ONTARIO PRODUCING BEST CLUSTER OF CONVECTION ATTM. A MORE SHEARED OUT H5 VORT TROF WILL MOVE ACROSS FA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. DYNAMICS AND WIND FIELDS STILL FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE BUT LIMITING FACTOR CONTINUES TO BE INSTABILITY. MODIFIED 12Z BUF SOUNDING WITH 84/68 YIELDS A MEAN LYR CAPE OF 500 TO 600 J/KG. ATTM NOT EXPECTING A WIDESPREAD SVR WX EVENT ESPECIALLY WITH A LOT OF MID/HI CLDS ALREADY OVR FA. BEST AREA FOR ISOLATED SVR APPEARS TO BE SUSQU REGION AND WESTERN CATSKILLS. RRM ...PREVIOUS AFD... MEAN TROF PSN WILL DVLP OVER THE NE U.S OVER THE NXT FEW DAYS...WITH BETTER CHCS FOR PCPN (WHICH IS A GOOD THING). CDFNT WILL PASS THE RGN TDA WITH SHRA/TSRA...WITH WEAK HIGH PRES BRIEFLY BUILDING IN FOR FRIDAY. THE NXT SYSTEM APRCHS ON SAT WITH LOW PRES TRACKING TWDS THE SRN TIER. MDLS ARE COMING INTO AGREEMENT WITH TIMING OF TDAS FROPA. THE AVN HAD BEEN THE FASTEST OVER THE PAST FEW RUNS WITH NGM SLOWEST BUT BOTH HAVE TRENDED TWDS THE COMPROMISE ETA SLN SO WILL CONTINUE TO GO WITH ETA TIMING. GUIDANCE POPS HAVE SHOWN SIG INCREASES FORM PREV RUN. LIKELY POPS LOOK GOOD BUT WILL PRBLY RAISE FROM 60% TO 70% ACRS UPSTATE TDA...WITH CHC POPS ACRS NE PA DUE TO LATER FNTL APRCH. AS FOR SVR POTNL...INSTAB FIELDS REALLY ARE NOT THAT IMPRSV WITH CAPES GNRLY 700-1000 AND LIS OF -1 TO -2. HOWEVER BRNS INDICATE POTNL FOR SOME LONGER LIVED CELLS WITH MDL FCSTS GNRLY IN THE 10-30 RNG AND BRN SHEAR VALUES ARE FCST TO BE IN THE 40-100 RNG. WIND FIELDS PRETTY DECENT. XPCT SOME STRONG STORMS WITH +RA AND CANT RULE OUT ISOLD SVR ACRS UPSTATE WITH WIND THE MAIN THREAT. TEMPS COULD BE TRICKY TDA ACRS NW ZONES. FWC MAXES LOOK A LTL ON THE COOL SIDE FOR THE FINGER LAKES AND WRK MOHAWK VLY AS IT APPEARS WELL SEE A DECENT AMT OF SUN THIS MRNG...XPCT THE CI SHIELD ASSCD WITH THE DECAYING MCS OVER MI WILL BE THINNING AS IT MOVS INTO UPSTATE THIS MRNG. MOST AREAS SHUD HAVE NO PRBLM GETTING INTO THE 80S TDA BUT WILL GO A TAD LOWER ACRS NRN ZONES. WILL CARRY LIKELY POPS ACRS NE PA THIS EVNG FOR TSRA WITH CHC ELSEWHERE TO COVER ANY LINGERING ACTIVITY. 925 MB RH PROGS AND MDL PROFILES INDICATE LOW LVL MSTR WILL BE SLOW TO SCOUR OUT TNGT AND MOSTLY CLOUDY LOOKS OK BUT WE SHUD SEE SOME CLEARING LATE ACRS NRN SXNS. DRIER AIR WORKS IN ACRS THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA ON FRIDAY AS HIGH PRES BUILDS IN WITH PS SKIES. XTNDD...WILL INDICATE INC CLDS FOR FRI NGT AS NXT LOW BEGINS TO PUSH EWD TWDS THE RGN. COULD SEE SOME PCPN PUSHING INTO WRN ZONES TWDS DAYBREAK SATURDAY AND WILL INTRODUCE LOW CHC POPS FOR THE CNTRL SRN TIER. SAT LOOKS FAIRLY COOL WITH MAXES GNRLY U60S TO L70S WITH CHCS FOR SHRA/TSRA (ALTHO IT MAY END UP BEING MORE OF AN OVERRUNNING RAIN SITN). ETA/AVN SUGGEST SYSTEM WILL BE PULLING EAST OF THE RGN BY SUNDAY SO WILL REMOVE PCPN FROM SUNDAY FCST. NO CHGS TO LATTER PDS. .BGM...NONE. BRADY
The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:31 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A Beech 1900 aircraft with 20 passengers had to make an emergency landing at Syracuse Hancock International Airport after lightning knocked out its right engine. The Air Midwest commuter plane, working for US Airways, was on its way from Watertown to Pittsburgh.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, 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: 5312591.