Name: Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, July 24, 2002
Start: 2002-07-24T19:00
End: 2002-07-24T19:00
Location: Oklahoma

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: 1

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 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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 24, 1:35 PM CST, 5 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 24, 1:35 PM CST, 5 hours 25 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA
235 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002

MAIN FORECAST PROBLEMS CONCERN FIRST PERIOD POPS THEN RETURN TO
HEAT/HUMIDITY FOR MUCH OF THE EXTENDED.

ISOLATED CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED ALONG LINGERING SFC BOUNDARY
LOCATED ACROSS SE OK INTO WCNTRL AR. INDIVIDUAL STORMS ARE QUITE
SHORT-LIVED BUT STILL COULD PRODUCE SOME GUSTY WINDS THRU THE EARLY
EVENING. WILL TAKE A LOOK AT RADAR BEFORE DECIDING ON EVENING POPS...BUT
WILL LIKELY CARRY 20 POPS GENERALLY S OF INTERSTATE 40.

BY TOMORROW...UPPER RIDGE WILL BRIDGE ACROSS THE SRN/SERN U.S. WITH
THE MAIN BELT OF WESTERLIES REMAINING TO OUR N.  IM A BIT CONCERNED
THAT THE ETA IS DRYING OUT THE LOW-LEVELS TOO QUICKLY BY
THU/FRI...ALTHO INCREASED SFC FLOW WILL HELP TO MIX OUT BOUNDARY
LAYER MOISTURE A BIT. KEPT THE HOT TEMPS GOING...BUT
SHADED HIGHS DOWN A DEGREE OR SO FOR THU/FRI.

WILL KEEP THE EXTENDED HOT AND DRY AS UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO
DOMINATE THE REGION.  MEX GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO LOOK TOO COOL...AND
SHUD SEE READINGS AROUND 100 FOR NRN PARTS OF THE FORECAST AREA THRU
THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. STRONGLY AGREE WITH PREVIOUS
FORECASTER THAT HEAT ADVISORY CRITERIA MAY BE MET FOR THE TULSA
METRO AREA...WHERE HEAT ISLAND EFFECTS WILL KEEP LOWS FROM DROPPING
MUCH BELOW 80.

GFS SUGGESTS THAT RIDGE WILL BREAK DOWN SOME BY MID-WEEK AS NRN
STREAM ENERGY DROPS INTO THE ROCKIES...WITH A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY
ENTERING OK BY THAT TIME. ECMWF/GEM ARE LESS AGGRESSIVE WITH THIS
SCENARIO AND WERE GENERALLY FAVORED FOR THIS FORECAST.

PRELIM NUMBERS...
TUL  74  98  77  98 /   5   5   5  10
FSM  71  97  74  97 /  10   5   5  10
MLC  70  97  73  97 /  20   5   5  10
BVO  67  98  74  99 /   5   5   5  10
FYV  66  92  69  95 /   5   5   5  10
BYV  65  92  69  94 /   5   5   5  10
MIO  67  95  73  96 /   5   5   5  10
MKO  69  96  74  97 /  10   5   5  10
F10  70  98  75  97 /  10   5   5  10
HHW  71  98  73  95 /  20   5   5  10

FORECAST ID = 18

.TSA...
AR...NONE.
OK...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 24, 3:29 PM CST, 3 hours 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
429 PM CDT WED JUL 24 2002

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

0456 PM    WINSLOW                   AR   WIND DAMAGE
07/23/02   WASHINGTON                     SEVERAL TREE LIMBS BLOWN
                                          DOWN.REPORTED BY PUBLIC

0500 PM    8 N MOUNTAINBURG          AR   WIND DAMAGE
07/23/02   CRAWFORD                       NUMEROUS TREE LIMBS BLOWN
                                          DOWN.REPORTED BY SPOTTERS

AH

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:02 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Craig

When: July 24, 7:00 PM CST
Where: Craig County, 3 mi N of Welch
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.917, -95.100

Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew several large tree limbs down.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Oklahoma in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Oklahoma, 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: 5310947.