High Wind in Utah, April 15, 2002

Name: High Wind in Utah, April 15, 2002
Start: 2002-04-15T10:00
End: 2002-04-15T20:00
Location: Utah

April 15, 2002 · NWS SLC · 17 events in 17 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 10
Property damage: $2.0 million
Crop damage: $100,000
Events: 17

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 SLC wrote it up.

Almost all of Utah was overly taxed as a powerful spring storm brought damaging winds and blowing dust to the area. The winds ahead of the cold front toppled semis, caused numerous traffic accidents, closed freeways, whipped up wildfires, and produced widespread power outages. At the storms peak, nearly 100,000 people were without power. An apartment complex in Draper and nearby school was evacuated after 17 power poles were knocked onto the roofs. Winds of 50-75 mph and blowing dust caused a multiple car accident near Paragonah on I-15. Several trucks overturned at Point of the Mountain. I-15 had to be closed near Fillmore due to the low visibilities in blowing dust. A wildfire was whipped up near Parowan by the wind, forcing residents to evacuate. At the Cedar City Airport, wind gusts snapped the lines holding down a plane, causing it to smash into another parked plane. Other damage around the state included broken windows, shingles and siding ripped away from homes and businesses, storage sheds collapsing, billboards and marquees blown down, and large trees uprooted or snapped off. Some of the stronger wind gusts included 84 mph (73kts) at Lost Creek, 78 mph (68 kts) in West Jordan and Chepeta, 72 mph (63 kts) at Dugway and Sandy, 71 mph (62 kts) at Delta, 70 mph (61 kts) at Fillmore, 67 mph (58 kts) at Saint George, 66 mph (57 kts) in Wendover, 64 mph (56 kts) at the Salt Lake International Airport, 62 mph (54 kts) at Cedar City, 61 mph (53 kts) in Centerville, and 58 mph (50 kts) at Tooele.

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 Salt Lake City, UT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 15, 9:00 AM MST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 15, 9:00 AM MST, 1 hour before

UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
1000 AM MDT MON APR 15 2002

.SYNOPSIS...A COLD FRONT STALLED OVER NORTHWEST UTAH EARLY TODAY
WILL PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  THE
FRONT WILL PRODUCE WINDY CONDITIONS TODAY AND WILL BE FOLLOWED BY
MUCH COLDER AIR.

.DISCUSSION...DATA PROBLEMS IN AWIPS SO HAVE ONLY SEEN 12Z ETA
TIME/HEIGHT FROM NEW RUN...NO PLAN VIEW GRAPHICS YET. TIME/HEIGHT
SHOWS FROPA AT SLC 23-00Z. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS STRONG VORT
CENTER IN CENTRAL CA NOW TURNING THE CORNER AND HEADING DUE EAST.
THIS SHOULD RESULT IN STRONG DEVELOPMENT OF NV CYCLONE AND THIS
ALREADY APPEARS TO BE GETTING STARTED BASED ON MAX SEA LEVEL
PRESSURE FALLS IN NV AND RAPID COOLING IN IR CLOUD TOPS. EVERYTHING
LOOKS TO BE COMING TOGETHER FOR A VERY STRONG STORM OVER MOST OF
UTAH LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. HAVE BACKED OFF ON SNOW IN
THE N MOUNTAINS TODAY BASED ON SLOWER FRONTAL TIMING...AND HAVE
SPLIT OUT ZONE 2 FROM 3 SINCE SOUTHERLY WINDS LIKELY SIGNIFICANT
TODAY IN MUCH OF SL COUNTY BUT VARIABLE FROM DAVIS COUNTY NORTHWARD.
HAVE REMOVED THE NORTHWEST WINDS FOR TODAY FROM ZONES 3/4.

EXPECT POST FRONTAL WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH ALONG WASATCH
FRONT WITH RAINFALL OF .50-.75 IN THE VALLEYS AND 1-2 FEET IN THE
NORTHERN MOUNTAINS.  LAST NIGHTS MM5 RUNS HINTED AT LAKE EFFECT...SO
STAY TUNED.

SOUTHERN UT ALREADY NEAR HIGH WIND WARNING LEVELS AND EXPECT THIS TO
CONTINUE ALL DAY. WILL UPDATE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES AROUND
NOON AFTER SEEING 12Z RUNS.

SLC 572 CDC 361  DUNN

.SLC...NUMEROUS WARNINGS/ADVISORIES/WATCHES IN EFFECT THROUGH
       TONIGHT.  SEE SLCWSWSLC AND SLCNPWSLC.

Event by event

17 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Beaver T X E/Iron T Xs Xe

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Beaver T X E/Iron T Xs Xe forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, C Ec Xse Duchesne

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: C Ec Xse Duchesne forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, C Sc Sanpete/C Sevier

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: C Sc Sanpete/C Sevier forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, C W Box Elder/C W Xe Toole/X W Salt Lake/X Nw Utah

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: C W Box Elder/C W Xe Toole/X W Salt Lake/X Nw Utah forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, E Wasatch T X Ne/S Wc Duchesne/X Ne San Pete/Carbon T Sc/P X Ne X Nw Emery

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: E Wasatch T X Ne/S Wc Duchesne/X Ne San Pete/Carbon T Sc/P X Ne X Nw Emery forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Emery T Nw X Ne/C E Wayne/P Sc Carbon

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Emery T Nw X Ne/C E Wayne/P Sc Carbon forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Kane T X Nw X E/Sc Garfield

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Kane T X Nw X E/Sc Garfield forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Millard T X E/Juab T X E

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Millard T X E/Juab T X E forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Ne Box Elder T X Ne/W Weber/Davis

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Ne Box Elder T X Ne/W Weber/Davis forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Ne Garfield/X Sc X Se Wayne/C N San Juan

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Ne Garfield/X Sc X Se Wayne/C N San Juan forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, P Nc Weber/P C Morgan/P W C Summit/P Sc Wasatch

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: P Nc Weber/P C Morgan/P W C Summit/P Sc Wasatch forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, P Sc Carbon/Nw Emery T X Nw

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: P Sc Carbon/Nw Emery T X Nw forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Sc Washington

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Sc Washington forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, Sw San Juan/X E Kane/Se Garfield

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: Sw San Juan/X E Kane/Se Garfield forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, W Salt Lake T X W/E Toole T X E

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: W Salt Lake T X W/E Toole T X E forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, W Utah T X Nw/P X E Juab

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: W Utah T X Nw/P X E Juab forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

High Wind, X Nw Kane/Xs Xe Iron/N W Washington/Nw Wc Garfield/Piute/W Wayne/Sevier T C/X E Millard/S Sanpete T Sc/X Se Juab/P X Nw Emery/X E Beaver

When: April 15, 10:00 AM MST to 8:00 PM MST
Where: X Nw Kane/Xs Xe Iron/N W Washington/Nw Wc Garfield/Piute/W Wayne/Sevier T C/X E Millard/S Sanpete T Sc/X Se Juab/P X Nw Emery/X E Beaver forecast zone
Measured: 75 kt (86 mph)
Injuries: 10 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $2.0 million
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Utah in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, April 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: 5324443, 5324444, 5324445, 5324446, 5324447, 5324448, 5324449, 5324450, 5324451, 5324452, 5324453, 5324454, 5324455, 5324456, 5324457, 5324458, 5324459.