1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 Cheyenne, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 17, 1:20 AM MST, 9 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY 220 AM MDT TUE SEP 17 2002 WV IMAGERY SHOWING UPR LOW OVR NE UT...WITH MAINLY CIRRUS DECK WORKING SLOWLY E/NE ACRS WY. 00Z MODELS ARE SLOWER AND A LITTLE DEEPER WITH UPR TROF MVG ACRS WY TODAY. BOTH 12Z AND 00Z ETA WERE THE BEST WITH REGARD TO SPEED/PLACEMENT OF UPR FEATURES...AND IT APPEARS THE OTHER MODELS /AVN AND NGM/ ARE NOW TRENDING TOWARD THE ETA SOLUTION. TROF SWINGS ACRS WY TODAY WITH FAIRLY GOOD VORT CENTER OVR SRN PARTS OF THE STATE THIS AFTN. ALTHOUGH LOW LVL MSTR NOT THAT GREAT...ENOUGH MID-UPR LVL MSTR AND FORCING WITH UPR LOW TO PRODUCE SCT POPS WRN AREAS AND MTNS THIS AFTN. DOMINATE DOWNSLOPE FLOW EAST OF THE LARAMIE RANGE...SO POPS MAINLY <20%. I WL INCLUDE THUNDER...AS H7-H5 LAPSE RATES RANGE FROM 7-8 DEGC/KM. COLD FRONT SWEEPS THRU THE FA TONIGHT AS SFC LOW MVS THRU THE DAKOTAS. S/WV TROF MVS ACRS WY ON WED...AS LOW LVL UPSLOPE FLOW DEEPENS. FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE H7 FRONTOGENETIC FORCING OVR SE WY/WRN NE WED...ALONG WITH GOOD H7 OMEGA FIELDS. WL GO WITH HIGH SCT TO LIKELY POPS MANY AREAS. H10-H5 THICKNESS VALUES DECR TO MARGINAL RAIN/SNOW SITUATION IN THE MTNS THROUGHOUT THE DAY...AND WL INCLUDE THIS WORDING IN THE ZONES. 850MB GRADIENT TIGHTENS DURING THE DAY OVR ERN PARTS OF THE FA...RESULTING IN PSBL ADVISORY CRITERIA WINDS IN THE PANHANDLE /LATER SHIFTS CAN MONITOR AND ISSUE IF NEEDED/. INDUCED RIDGE OVER THE FA ON THU...WITH SOME MODIFICATION IN TEMPS. SUMMER WX TAKING A FAST DETOUR IN THE EXTENDED...AS BOTH THE ECMWF AND MRF BRING A STRONG COLD FRONT THRU THE FA FRI NITE. I WL INTRODUCE LOW POPS INTO FAVORED UPSLOPE AREAS TOWARD 12Z SAT. LONGWAVE TROF GETS RE-INFORCED SUN-MON AS ANOTHER STRONG S/WV TROF AND ASSOC COLD FRONT DIVE OUT OF SRN CANADA AND ACRS THE AREA. WITH INCRG LOW LVL MSTR AND UPSLOPE FLOW BY MONDAY...COULD BE LOOKING AT A WINTER SCENARIO FOR PARTS OF THE AREA. I WL BEGIN TO TREND THIS WAY IN THE ZONES...PUTTING SNOW CHANCES INTO THE MTNS AND RAIN CHANCES ELSEWHERE. .CYS... WY...NONE. NE...NONE. JK
NEZ001>003-019>021-054-055-WYZ059>070-171900- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY 1000 AM MDT TUE SEP 17 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TODAY... A STRONG DISTURBANCE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE WILL MOVE EAST OF THE LARAMIE MOUNTAINS AND THROUGH THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. LIMITED MOISTURE AHEAD OF THE DISTURBANCE...ESPECIALLY IN THE LOWEST LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE... SHOULD LIMIT INSTABILITIES AND THE INTENSITY OF THUNDERSTORMS. AS ANY THUNDERSTORMS MOVE ACROSS THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON THEY MAY STRENGTHEN...BUT THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE. && ***PLEASE NOTE*** THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK ISSUED BY THE CHEYENNE WFO WILL BE SENT USING A DIFFERENT IDENTIFIER STARTING OCTOBER 1, 2002. THE NEW IDENTIFIER IS... WMO HEADING.... FLUS45 KCYS AWIPS ID... HWOCYS THE NEW IDENTIFIER IS RESERVED FOR THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK ONLY. ALL NWS OFFICES WILL ISSUE THEIR HWOS USING SIMILAR NEW IDENTIFIERS. THE CHEYENNE HWO WILL BE ISSUED DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR STARTING OCTOBER 1, 2002...AND WILL GO OUT TO 7 DAYS. NORMAL SCHEDULED ISSUANCE TIME WILL BE 500-600 AM. A SECOND DAILY ISSUANCE BETWEEN 1000-1100 AM IS SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 1ST THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30TH. SUPPLEMENTARY HWOS MAY BE ISSUED TO PROVIDE UPDATED INFORMATION. WCJIN-WYSE-WYNE COX
The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 187 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:19 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree and woman standing under it at the Pickaroon Campground inMedicine Bow National Forest.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Carbon | 2002-09-17 | 51 | Female | Under Tree | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, September 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: 5314517.