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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 23, 1:30 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.
NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 230 PM PDT TUE JUL 23 2002 CONCERN WILL BE WITH PRECIPITATION CHANCES NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. LATEST MSAS DATA SHOWED IMPRESSIVE INSTABILITY (MINUS EIGHT LIS...WARM AIR ADVECTION IN THE LOW LEVELS AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE) OVER MOST PORTIONS OF NE OREGON ESPECIALLY IN AND AROUND THE DALLES TO PDT. LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTHWEST OREGON WILL REMAIN STATIONARY SPINNING DISTURBANCES ACROSS OUR AREA THROUGH TOMORROW. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HAD INCREASED ACROSS SE WASHINGTON AND NE OREGON AS SURFACE DEW POINTS HAS RISEN TO 60 DEGREES AT PDT. THEREFORE WHEN THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP THEY SHOULD BE OF THE WET VARIETY. WITH DAYTIME HEATING AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE THE ATMOSPHERE SHOULD CONTINUE TO BECOME VERY UNSTABLE THIS LATE AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION A DISTURBANCE/(5HMBS/VORT MAX) MOVES INTO CENTRAL OREGON AND REMAINS OVER THE AREA TONIGHT. THEREFORE I WOULD EXPECT THE CAP TO BREAK(HIGH CIN) AND CONVECTION TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND PERSIST INTO THE EVENING. WITH THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS...MOIST LOW/MID LEVELS...PRECIPITABLE WATERS AROUND AN INCH(ALSO SOMEWHAT OF A THETA E RIDGE) NEAR WALLOWA COUNTY...SOME OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. ALSO THE WET BULB ZERO TEMPERATURES HAD LOWERED AND SOME DIME SIZE HAIL MAY OCCUR AS WELL. SIMILAR CONDITIONS EXIST FOR TOMORROW BUT WITH THE LACK OF A STRONG DISTURBANCE. STILL THE ATMOSPHERE BECOMES UNSTABLE(7HMBS/POSITIVE OMEGAS BULLSEYE IN AND AROUND JOHN DAY) AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP AGAIN FOR WEDNESDAY. FINALLY THE LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTHWEST OREGON BEGINS TO MOVE INTO CENTRAL OREGON THURSDAY. DRIER AIR SLOWLY ADVECTS/MOVES INTO THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE COUNTY WARNING AREA(REDMOND/YAKIMA) BY LATE AFTERNOON AND PRECIPITATION CHANCES SHOULD DECREASE. BY EARLY FRIDAY ALL OF SE WASHINGTON/NE OREGON ARE IN DRIER AIR. BUT A FAST MOVING DISTURBANCE DIVES SOUTHEAST FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA AND ENTERS EASTERN WASHINGTON BY AFTERNOON AND SPREADS SOME MID LEVEL CLOUDINESS ACROSS THE AREA. IN ADDITION PRESSURE GRADIENTS TIGHTEN AND THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA...NEAR ELLENSBURG/THE DALLES COULD HAVE BREEZY TO WINDY WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS. AFTERNOON HIGHS FOR WEDNESDAY SHOULD BE ABOVE NORMAL RISING INTO THE 90S. BY THURSDAY LOW LEVEL TEMPERATURES(850MBS) FALL A COUPLE OF DEGREES AND AFTERNOON HIGHS SHOULD NOT BE AS HOT. BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON AGAIN SHOULD BE COOLER THAN THE DAY BEFORE. EXTENDED...THE EXTENDED WILL REMAIN DRY WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL. THE VORTICITY MAXIMUM ASSOCIATED WITH THE FAST MOVING SYSTEM OF FRIDAY...WILL BE LOCATED IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON SATURDAY...WITH LINGERING VORTICITY OVER MUCH OF OREGON. HOWEVER...THIS SYSTEM IS VERY DRY AND THE ATMOSPHERE APPEARS TO BE STABLE...WITH THICKNESS LOWERING ACROSS WASHINGTON AND OREGON. THEREFORE...SATURDAY WILL BE DRY...WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES. AS THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH PUSHES OUT...A RIDGE TRIES TO BUILD INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ON SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. MODELS ARE VARYING ON THE STRENGTH OF THIS RIDGE THOUGH...AND FOR NOW...WILL FOLLOW THE MRF SOLUTION WHICH FLATTENS OUT THE RIDGE ON MONDAY NIGHT AS ANOTHER WAVE PUSHES SOUTH FROM CANADA ON TUESDAY...PUTTING WASHINGTON IN NORTHWESTERLY FLOW AND OREGON UNDER WESTERLY FLOW. TEMPERATURES WILL RISE A DEGREE OR TWO ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY...WITH A SLIGHT DECREASE ON TUESDAY WITH LOWERING THICKNESS AGAIN. PALMER PDT 323 ALW 323 PSC 323 YKM 323 KPDT...VCP21...OPERATIONAL. .KPDT...NONE.
The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:30 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning knocked out power to 100 residents in the Perry and Hilgard areas.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, July 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: 5307329.