Tornado in South Dakota, August 8, 2002

Name: Tornado in South Dakota, August 8, 2002
Start: 2002-08-08T13:34
End: 2002-08-08T13:37
Location: South Dakota

August 8, 2002 · NWS UNR · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A storm chaser saw a tornado form and persist for 3 minutes over open prairie in eastern Harding County. The storm left no damage or debris.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

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Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
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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 happened

The episode as NWS UNR wrote it up.

A storm chaser saw a tornado form and persist for 3 minutes over open prairie in eastern Harding County. The storm left no damage or debris.

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 Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 8, 12:55 PM MST, 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 12:55 PM MST, 39 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
155 PM MDT THU AUG 8 2002

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ENTIRE AREA EXCEPT CAMPBELL COUNTY
WYOMING THIS EVENING...
VIGOROUS PACIFIC SHORT WAVE MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS THIS
AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE INTENSE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AS
IT MOVES OUT OF SOUTHERN MONTANA INTO NORTHEAST WYOMING AND WESTERN
SOUTH DAKOTA. FORECAST HODOGRAPHS INDICATE A PREFERENCE FOR LINEAR
ORGANIZATION...STRONG WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THE WINDS ARE OF
PARTICULAR CONCERN FOR NWRN SD...N AND NE OF THE BLACK HILLS...SINCE
THE SHORT WAVE WILL CONTRIBUTE 50+ MPH WIND SPEEDS TO THE MID LEVELS
OF THE ATMOSPHERE ACROSS WRN SD BY MIDNIGHT.  SEVERE WEATHER
OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS AT UNR.

ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS WERE MADE TO LATER PERIODS OF THE PACKAGE. A
SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE NW FLOW WILL KEEP THE WEATHER MODERATELY ACTIVE
THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK...THEN LARGE SCALE SUBSIDENCE AND DRY
AIR WILL PROVIDE A RESPITE FROM MIDDAY SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.
SUMMERTIME HEATING AND A WEAK MID LEVEL SHORT WAVE WILL PRODUCE SOME
WEATHER MON AND TUE...WITH FAIR SKIES DOMINATING WED AND THU.

.UNR...NONE.

CARPENTER

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 8, 10:31 AM MST, 3 hours 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1131 AM MDT THU AUG 08 2002

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

0945 PM    3 NW FAIRPT               SD   65 MPH TSTM GUST
08/07/02   MEADE                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

1000 PM    1 S REVA                  SD    MPH TSTM GUST
08/07/02   HARDING                        EVENT DURATION 30
                                          MINUTES. REPORTED BY
                                          STORM SPOTTER.

1003 PM    ZEONA                     SD   70 MPH TSTM GUST
08/07/02   PERKINS                        REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

1030 PM    PRAIRIE CITY              SD   60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/07/02   PERKINS                        REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Harding

When: August 8, 1:34 PM MST to 1:37 PM MST
Where: Harding County, 10 mi NW of Reva
Rating: F0
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 25 yd
Reported by: STORM CHASER
Coordinates: 45.650, -103.233

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Dakota in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history The tornado archive for South Dakota, 2002 Warnings in South Dakota, August 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: 5310605.