5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 14, 1:00 PM EST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 200 PM EDT SAT SEP 14 2002 UPR TROF HUDSONS BAY TO CNTRL U.S. LIFTS OUT TO NE AND PAST CWA BY SUN EVE. UPR RDG TRYING TO BLD INTO LWR LKS BY 60 HRS. LOOKS LIKE MDLS WANT TO BRING CDFNT THRU CWA ARND 12Z BUT THIS A BIT FUZZY WITH WK LOW PRES DVLPG ON FNT IN AREA. SURPRISINGLY...ETA LOOKS LIKE IT WANTS TO BACK OFF A TAD ON POPS OVRNGT FOR A GOOD PART OF THE AREA. ALL MDLS BEEF UP THE MSTR FIELD WITH NGM STILL HOLD POPS PRETTY MUCH IN LKLY RGN FOR TNGT. WL PRBBLY LN TWDS THE NGM POPS FOR TNGT AND GO WITH LKLY POPS. A LTL MORE PVA...THE FNT IN THE AREA AND PLENTY OF AVBL MSTR WL PUSH HVLY TWDS KEEPING POPS IN THE LKLY REGIME. MAY HV TO INDCT MNLY AM OVR WRN SXNS. NGM MOS POPS STAY PRETTY HIGH FOR SUN AS DO THE ETA MOS POPS. AT THIS PT THEY SEEM TO FLIP-FLOP HWEVR WITH FRH DATA SHOWING NO QPF FOR NGM ON SUN AND ETA FRH GIVING SOME SERIOUS QPF. WL HV TO TAKE A MDL OF THE RD APPRCH. WL GO WITH THE LKLY POPS SUN. FEEL ETA MDL HANGING ON A LTL TOO LONG TO PCPN WL DROP POPS BLO MENTIONABLE FOR SUN NGT. HI PRES IN CONTROL ON MON WITH DRY WX THE RULE. SOME DIVERGENCE IN MOS TMP FCSTS WITH ETA RUNNING A BIT WRMR FOR MOST PART. SOME FAIRLY MILD TMPS TNGT BUT AFT TNGT WL LN TWD COOLER NGM FOR GUID. .CLE... OH...NONE. PA...NONE. VRCEK
The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:22 UTC.
5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and large limbs. A home was damaged by a fallen limb.
Dime size hail was observed.
Dime to quarter size hail was observed.
Thunderstorm winds downed several trees. At least two cars were damaged by the trees.
Walnut size hail was observed.
Thunderstorm winds downed several trees in Elyria and a few large limbs in Grafton.
Walnut size hail was observed.
Nickel size hail was observed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, September 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: 5320379, 5320373, 5320374, 5320375, 5320376, 5320380, 5320377, 5320378.