1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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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 Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 21, 2:23 PM MST, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 230 PM MDT WED AUG 21 2002 MDLS IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH SYNOPTIC FEATURES BUT DIFFER A BIT ON PLACEMENT AND TIMING OF DISTURBANCES. A FEW STORMS DVLPG OVR THE BLK HILLS AND NE WY ATTM AND EXPECT THAT MORE STORMS WL CONTINUE DVLPG TO THE N AND E OF THIS AREA THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTN AND INTO THE EVE AS S/W LIFTS OUT OF ERN WY. LO CLDS HAVE REMAINED IN PLACE ACRS NRN HALF OF CWA THIS AFTN...AND NO REASON THEY WL GO AWAY TNGT. THINKING IS THAT AS WINDS BECOME MORE E-NE OVR AREA...THIS WL HELP MORE LO CLDS TO DVLP OVR MUCH OF THE CWA. SINCE THIS MOISTURE IS PRETTY SHALLOW...MOST OF THE HILLS SHLD STAY PTLY CLDY. LOWS SHLD ONCE AGAIN BE ABV MOS GIVEN CURRENT DEW POINTS ACRS CWA AND WHAT WL ADVECT IN FM THE E. THU WINDS WL START TO SHIFT TO THE SE AS HI MOVES OVR GT LKS. GD SETUP FOR STRONG SE WINDS BY AFTN ACRS WRN HALF OF CWA. BIGGEST QUESTION IS HOW MUCH THE LO CLDS WL BREAK UP THROUGH THE DAY. THINK IT MAY BE TOUGH FOR FAR ERN COUNTIES TO GET OUT OF THE LO CLDS BEFORE MID AFTN WHEN WINDS SHIFT AND HAVE KEPT TEMPS THERE ABOUT 5 DEG COOLER THAN THE W WHERE IT SHLD WARM INTO THE MID TO UPR 80S. SOME WEAK RIDGING WL TAKE PLACE OVR AREA THROUGH THE DAY...BUT A WEAK DISTURBANCE WL MOVE THRU THE S IN THE AFTN AND MAY TRIGGER A FEW STORMS. ANOTHER S/W WL APPROACH NE WY LATE AND MAY SEE A FEW STORMS THERE AS WELL. KEPT N DRY. THU NIGHT...S/W FM NE WY WL MOVE ACRS WRN CWA AND HAVE KEPT 20 POPS GOING. OTHERWISE LOWS AGAIN IN THE UPR 50S TO LWR 60S AS SE WINDS SHLD KEEP SOME LL MOISTURE AROUND. FRI...A COUPLE OF DISTURBANCES WL MOVE ACRS CWA AND CONTINUE A CHC FOR TSMS WITH DECENT MOISTURE AROUND. CAPES WL BE 1000-1500J/KG WITH LTL OR NO CIN. INCLUDED 30 POPS EVERYWHERE. TEMPS SHLD REACH THE 80S EVERYWHERE AS LO CLDS SHLD BE AT A MINIMUM. EXPECT MAINLY DRY CONDS ACRS AREA FRI NIGHT AS GD NVA ACRS CWA. AVN SHOWING TROF ROTATING THRU AREA SAT AND PUT IN A CHC FOR TSMS AGAIN ACRS CWA. TEMPS SIMILAR TO FRI. IN THE EXTENDED...SUN KEPT DRY WITH NO REAL DISTURBANCE MVG THRU...BUT UPR TROF APPROACHES AREA BY MON WITH A CHC FOR TSMS THRU WED ALONG WITH COOLER TEMPS...MAINLY IN THE MID TO UPR 70S BY TUE AND WED. .UNR...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 930 PM MDT FOR LAWRENCE COUNTY-SDZ024. JMG
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:42 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds destroyed a machine shed and blew an eight foot diameter watering tank one-quarter mile.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, August 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: 5310931.