2 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 16, 2:00 PM CST, 10 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 300 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002 FORECAST CONCERN STILL CONVECTION INITIATION. AREA 18Z SOUNDINGS STILL QUITE CAPPED AND LOTS OF CLOUDS STILL MOVING IN. WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWING QUITE A MASS OF MOISTURE STILL HEADING THIS WAY. HOWEVER..FAIRLY WELL DEFINED VORT HEADING OUT OF EASTERN COLORADO..AND THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH FORCING ALONG WITH JET TO GET THINGS GOING AT LEAST OUT WEST THIS EVENING...AND THEN POSSIBLY LATER EAST. STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY IN SVR CHANCES DUE TO CAP AND BEST THETA E ADVECTION PUSHED OFF TO NORTHEAST. ALSO DONT LIKE THICKNESS PATTERN FOR ORGANIZED SEVERE..WITH ANY HINT OF DIFLUENT PATTERN FAR NORTH MN AND POSSIBLY EASTERN NEB INTO EASTERN KANSAS THIS EVENING. WILL KEEP MENTION OF SEVERE GOING DUE TO DECENT DYNAMICS AND JET MOVING IN. FRONT SHOULD PICK UP SPEED AND SURGE THROUGH AFTER MIDNIGHT IN EASTERN AREAS. ATTENTION THEN TURNS TO WED NIGHT AND THURSDAY WITH NEW LOW FORMING AND THETA-E ADVECTION RETURNING. WILL KEEP WITH FAIRLY HIGH POPS WED NIGHT..BUT SEEMS LIKE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH FAIRLY QUICKLY....AND CHANCY POPS LEFT AS FRONT MOVES THROUGH. COOLING TREND BACK TO NEAR NORMAL FOR WEEKEND INTO EARY NEXT WEEK WITH NEG 500 MB HEIGHT ANAMOLY SETTLING IN OVER PLAINS. .MSP...WIND ADVISORY THIS EVENING MN CWA. JPR
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
947 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0945 PM KIMBALL MN .5 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 STEARNS REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
955 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0935 PM BROOTEN MN WIND DAMAGE
04/16/02 STEARNS REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
TREES DOWN.
0945 PM ST MARTIN MN WIND DAMAGE
04/16/02 STEARNS REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
TREES DOWN.
0950 PM 4 N FAIRHAVEN MN .75 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 STEARNS REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1002 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0651 PM CHOKIO MN .5 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 STEVENS
0709 PM MONTEVIDEO MN .5 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 CHIPPEWA REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
0729 PM MADISON MN .5 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 LAC QUI PARLE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0730 PM MADISON MN .5 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 LAC QUI PARLE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0811 PM STARBUCK MN .25 INCH HAIL
04/16/02 POPE REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.
0930 PM HUTCHINSON MN 55 MPH TSTM GUST
04/16/02 MCLEOD REPORTED BY MEDIA.MNZ042>044-049>051-057>060-065>068-073>075-082-170520- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 1148 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002 ...MUCH OF THE WESTERN PORTION OF SEVERE WEATHER WATCH 102 IS CANCELLED... SEVERE WEATHER WATCH NUMBER 102 HAS BEEN CANCELLED WEST OF A LINE FROM NEAR FAIRMONT TO MANKATO TO MINNEAPOLIS TO NEAR PRINCETON. A THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER REMAINS ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA INTO EXTREME EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1154 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0930 PM BROOTEN MN WIND DAMAGE
04/16/02 STEARNS TREES DOWN. REPORTED BY
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.MNZ045-052-053-061>063-069-070-076>078-083>085-091>093-WIZ014-023- 024-170640- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 105 AM CDT WED APR 17 2002 ...MORE OF SEVERE WEATHER WATCH 102 IS CANCELLED... THE LINE OF SEVERE STORMS HAS MOVED OUT OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA. THUS THE WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE TWIN CITIES METRO AREA...CAMBRIDGE...MANKATO...ALBERT LEA...AND RED WING. IT IS ALSO NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE WESTERN WISCONSIN COUNTIES OF POLK...ST CROIX AND PIERCE.
The La Crosse radar (KARX), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:24 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Narrow swath of wind damage. Roof off barn. Old, abandoned wooden one-room schoolhouse collapsed. Several outbuildings down. Downburst wind per NWS damage survey.
Narrow swath of wind damage. Roofs blown off 4 barns. Several outbuildings down. Dozens of trees snapped. Windmill twisted. One man sustained minor injuries when his semi truck was blown into the path of another semi. Downburst wind per NWS damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, April 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: 5292857, 5292858.