Utah, 2002

Tornado in Utah, September 8, 2002

September 8, 2002 · NWS SLC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$2.0 million
Crop damage
$100,000
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 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 Sep 8, 9:30 AM MST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 8, 9:30 AM MST, 3 hours 20 minutes before
UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
1030 AM MDT SUN SEP 8 2002

.SYNOPSIS...A VERY MOIST AND SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL
REMAIN IN PLACE TODAY.  THE AIRMASS WILL DRY SOMEWHAT ON MONDAY
THEN MOISTURE WILL INCREASE AGAIN ON TUESDAY.

.DISCUSSION...JET LEVEL IMPULSE GENERATED A BROAD AREA OF RAIN OVER
NRN UT THIS MORNING THAT WILL BE MOVING OFF TO THE NORTHEAST WITHIN
AN HOUR OR TWO. NEXT FEATURE IS THE UPPER LEVEL TROF ITSELF. THE
NORTHERN BRANCH IS SHEARING OFF THROUGH THE NORTHERN ROCKIES LEAVING
A CLOSED CIRCULATION OVER SWRN NV. THIS FEATURE IS GENERATING A NEW
ROUND OF CONVECTION OVER WEST CENTRAL UT THAT WILL BE LIFTING NEWD
TODAY. MODELS HAVE BEEN LIFTING THIS CLOSED FEATURE THROUGH THE
NORTHERN PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA TONIGHT WITH A DRAMATIC
DECREASE IN MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY BEHIND IT ON MON. CURRENT
WATER VAPOR SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THIS CLOSED CIRCULATION STARTING
TO ELONGATE WITH PIECES SHEARING OUT TO THE NORTHEAST BUT ANY
EASTWARD MOTION HAS SLOWED. I HAVE MY DOUBTS ABOUT HOW STRONGLY WE
WILL DRY TOMORROW AND JUST HOW MUCH OF THE CLOSED CIRCULATION
ACTUALLY EJECTS. EVEN IF THE MODELS WERE RIGHT...THEY DO INDICATE
THAT A WEAK LOW REMAINS BEHIND OVER SRN CA AND THE FLOW AT LOWER
LEVELS BACKS RAPIDLY AROUND TO SELY MON NIGHT WITH MOISTURE SURGING
BACK INTO THE AREA TUE. SO WE WILL PROBABLY NEED TO RE-EXAMINE THE
FORECAST FOR TUE...AND WILL LEAVE MONDAY AS IS WITH CHANCE
POPS. FORECAST FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT IS FINE BUT WILL CONSIDER
ISSUING URBAN AND SMALL STREAM ADVISORY FOR THE NORTHERN ZONES.
WILL SEE HOW THINGS DEVELOP BY MIDDAY AND MAY UPDATE THEN.

SLC 763  CDC 764  WILENSKY

.SLC...NONE.

The radar

The Salt Lake City radar (KMTX), 223 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:50 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Sanpete

When
September 8, 12:50 PM MST to 1:05 PM MST
Where
Sanpete County, Manti
Rating
F2
Path length
2.7 mi
Path width
270 yd
Property damage
$2.0 million
Crop damage
$100,000
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
39.374, -111.576 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

An F2 tornado began one mile south-southwest of Manti and moved northeast through Southeast Manti. The first mile of the tornado path was across open land, however the tornado produced some remarkable damage at the start. A 10X12 foot pioneer building was lifted, rotated 90 degrees, and moved 8 feet before being dropped back to the ground. At the south end of Manti, the tornado struck the Anderson Lumber business and did substantial damage. A 40 foot semi-trailer, loaded with insulation, was lifted and thrown onto it's side approximately 35 to 40 feet away. A large amount of debris, along with a 10X10 foot wooden shed, was thrown across Highway 89 and over the hill some 200 to 300 feet away. The wide swath of the tornado did considerable damage as it moved through the residential area in Southeast Manti. As the tornado exited the residential area, where some of the heaviest damage occurred, a 26 foot camp trailer was lifted and thrown to the west-northwest some 150 to 200 feet and disintegrated. The tornado continued across open farmland another half a mile or so before dissipating near the mountains. It has been determined that this was a high-end F2 tornado, with winds as high as 157 mph. The distance traveled was 2.75 miles, and the width was 800 feet. Time on the ground was approximately 15 minutes. Estimated damage is around $2,000,000, but could still go higher. Amazingly, there were no injuries.

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

More

Every storm in Utah in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Utah, 2002Warnings in Utah, September 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: 5325452.