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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 6, 2:35 AM CST, 6 hours 10 minutes earlier.
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA 335 AM CDT SUN OCT 6 2002 RAIN CHANCES ASSOCIATED WITH PASSING COLD FRONT WILL HIGHLIGHT THIS MORNINGS FORECAST. CURRENT PROFILER DATA INDICATES WARM AIR ADVECTION PATTERN DEVELOPING ACROSS NORTHERN OK/SOUTHERN KS AS LOW LEVEL JET CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN. CONVECTION BEGINNING TO BLOSSOM OVER CENTRAL KANSAS ALONG DEVELOPING FRONTAL BOUNDARY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS FORCING. SHORT TERM MODELS SUPPORT THE EXPANSION OF THE PRECIP FIELD ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AS IT MOVES INTO NE OK BY MIDDAY. THIS SEEMS REASONABLE GIVEN FAVORABLE UPPER JET DYNAMICS...PASSING MID LEVEL TROUGH...AND THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ADVECTION WHICH IS...AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE...UNDERWAY. TEMPS TODAY WILL BE TOUGH AS WARM OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL LEAVE LITTLE ROOM FOR TEMPS TO CLIMB INTO THE UPPER 70S/LOW 80S WITH ONLY DEGREE OF CLOUD COVER KEEPING TEMPS IN CHECK ACROSS SOUTHERN AREAS AHEAD OF FRONTAL PASSAGE. EXPECT INITIAL CONVECTION TO REMAIN ELEVATED WITH STRONG WARM ADVECTION KEEPING A HEALTHY LOW LEVEL INVERSION IN PLACE. STORMS WILL HAVE A GREATER CHANCE OF BECOMING ROOTED IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN AREAS...ESPECIALLY IF TEMPS CAN MAKE IT INTO THE MID/UPPER 80S AHEAD OF THE FRONT. SURFACE HIGH SETTLES OVER THE AREA TONIGHT WITH NORTHERN LOCATIONS COOLING QUICKLY AS WINDS WILL GO CALM ACROSS THIS AREA FIRST. PLEASANT CONDITIONS CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY AS SURFACE RIDGING REMAINS IN PLACE. RAIN CHANCES RETURN TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY AS A SOUTHERN STREAM SHORTWAVE TROUGH EJECTS OVER THE REGION. THURS/FRI APPEAR DRY AS NEXT UPPER LOW MOVES INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST...WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN RETURNING BY SATURDAY AS THIS FEATURE BEGINS TO MOVE EAST. TUL 79 45 71 49 / 40 5 0 0 FSM 83 50 72 46 / 70 10 0 0 MLC 82 50 73 49 / 60 10 0 0 BVO 78 38 70 44 / 20 5 0 0 FYV 79 40 67 38 / 60 10 0 0 BYV 79 43 65 41 / 60 10 0 0 MIO 76 42 67 45 / 50 5 0 0 MKO 81 49 71 47 / 50 10 0 0 F10 80 50 71 49 / 50 10 0 0 HHW 82 53 73 51 / 70 10 0 0 FORECAST ID = 07 .TSA... AR...NONE. OK...NONE.
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-071200-
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
600 AM CDT SUN OCT 6 2002
THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AND MUCH OF
EASTERN OKLAHOMA.
.DAY ONE...
SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
AREA 1...ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM MCALESTER TO FORT SMITH
PROBABILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS...100
IF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP...
PROBABILITY THAT THEY WILL BE SEVERE...40
TIME OF INITIAL EVENT...10:30 AM
PROBABILITY OF A TORNADO / F2 OR GREATER TORNADO LARGER...05/00
PROBABILITY OF DIME HAIL / GOLFBALL HAIL OR LARGER...25/15
PROBABILITY OF 58 MPH WIND / 73 MPH WIND...30/05
AREA 2...SOUTH OF A LINE FROM MCALESTER TO FORT SMITH
PROBABILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS...80
IF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP...
PROBABILITY THAT THEY WILL BE SEVERE...50
TIME OF INITIAL EVENT...1:30 PM
PROBABILITY OF A TORNADO / F2 OR GREATER TORNADO LARGER...10/00
PROBABILITY OF DIME HAIL / GOLFBALL HAIL OR LARGER...40/20
PROBABILITY OF 58 MPH WIND / 73 MPH WIND...40/10
GIVEN PROBABILITIES REPRESENT THE POTENTIAL FOR AN OCCURRENCE
ANYWHERE IN THE DEFINED AREA.
DISCUSSION...
ELEVATED CONVECTION WAS DEVELOPING ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHEAST
OKLAHOMA THIS MORNING. STEEP LAPSE RATES...A 50 KNOT SOUTHWESTERLY
LOW LEVEL JET...AND THE RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF A 110 KNOT 300 MB
JET WERE CONTRIBUTING TO THE CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT. A FEW OF THE
STORMS THIS MORNING INTO EARLY THIS AFTERNOON COULD PRODUCE DIME TO
NICKEL SIZE HAIL AS THEY MOVE EAST AT 35 MPH.
A COLD FRONT...LOCATED FROM CENTRAL KANSAS INTO NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA
EARLY THIS MORNING...WILL SWEEP ACROSS MOST OF OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN
ARKANSAS TODAY. THE FRONT WILL ENCOUNTER RETURNING MOISTURE AND A
MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS AS IT MOVES INTO SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND
WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. IF INSTABILITY IS
SUFFICIENT...A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE IN AREAS
ALONG OR JUST AHEAD OF THE FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. ISOLATED SUPERCELL
STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS MID LEVEL WINDS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR
STORM ORGANIZATION.
.SPOTTER / EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS MORNING INTO EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON ACROSS PARTS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS.
.DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
THE NEXT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEXT WEEKEND AS A UPPER
LEVEL SYSTEM MOVES EAST OUT OF THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES.
RELATED GRAPHICAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT...
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSAThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the police station and a nearby house. The lightning did $10,000 damage to the police station. When the lightning struck the house it caused a fire which gutted the house. The damage estimated done to the house was $40,000.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, October 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: 5319447.