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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 18, 8:20 PM CST, 9 minutes earlier.
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA 920 PM CDT WED SEP 18 2002 CURRENT CONVECTION CONTINUES TO MOVE TO THE NORHTEAST AND IS MAKING ONLY SLOW PROGRESS TO THE EAST. EXTRAPOLATION INDICATES BY 11 PM THE LINE WILL REACH FROM NORTHERN NOWATA COUNTY TO SOUTHEAST OSAGE AND WESTERN CREEK. UPPER FLOW WILL REMAIN SOUTHWEST AS UPPER TROF CONTINUES TO DIG TO OUR WEST. THAT WILL KEEP THE STORM MOTION FROM THE SOUTHWEST AND LIMIT THE EASTWARD PROGRESSION TO MAINLY DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE TSTM GUST FRONTS. TSTORMS OVER WEST TEXAS LIKELY RESPONDING TO THE MAIN UPPER LOW MOVING EAST. THE TROF WILL BE IN THE TX PHNDL BY 18Z THURSDAY...WITH STRONG DYNAMICS THROUGH CENTRAL OK...AND WILL ALLOW THE COLDFRONT TO START MOVING EASTWARD. EXPECT THE CURRENT ACTIVITY WILL REMAIN ONLY MARGINALLY SEVERE...WITH SECOND SURGE OF STRONG STORMS EARLY IN THE MORNING ALONG AND JUST AHEAD OF THE COLDFRONT...ENANCED WITH THE APPROACHING 500MB TROF. WILL MAKE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE POPS TO REFLECT CURRENT THINKING. NOT INCLINED TO CHANGE ANY LOW TEMPS...EXCEPT FOR RAIN COOLED AREAS. FORECAST ID = 02 .TSA... AR...NONE. OK...NONE.
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-191100- EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 540 PM CDT WED SEP 18 2002 ...THERE IS A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA TONIGHT... ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS A LARGE PART OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THURSDAY... SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPED LATE THIS AFTERNOON OVER WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS. THESE ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP AND MOVE TO THE EAST NORTHEAST THROUGH THE EVENING. AT THEIR CURRENT SPEED AND DIRECTION...SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD REACH WESTERN PORTIONS OF OSAGE...PAWNEE...CREEK AND OKFUSKEE COUNTIES AROUND MID EVENING. A BROADER AREA OF PRECIPITATION WILL LIKELY DEVELOP BEHIND THE COLD FRONT MOVING INTO NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER ACTIVATION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING OVER PARTS OF NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA TO THE WEST OF A MIAMI TO WAGONER TO HENRYETTA LINE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED OVER ALL OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DURING THE DAY THURSDAY. .DISCUSSION... THE VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL SWING OUT OF THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES AND INTO THE PLAINS TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. THE STRONG DYNAMICS FROM THIS SYSTEM ALONG WITH THE COLD FRONT MOVING INTO OKLAHOMA SHOULD RESULT IN CONTINUED CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE NIGHT. THREAT TABLE VALID THROUGH 1200 UTC THURSDAY AREA 1...ALONG AND WEST OF A MIAMI TO WAGONER TO HENRYETTA LINE THUNDERSTORM PROBABILITY...70 SEVERE PROBABILITY IF STORMS OCCUR...90 SIGNIFICANT SEVERE PROBABILITY IF STORMS OCCUR...40 THREAT AREAS DEFINE GREATEST RISK. PROBABILITIES ARE IN PERCENT. SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER IS DEFINED AS F1 OR GREATER WIND/TORNADO DAMAGE AND/OR GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL OR LARGER. RELATED GRAPHICAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT... WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA
The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:30 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down a tree near Kaw Lake.
Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down several large tree limbs.
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, 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: 5320542, 5320543, 5320544.