Tropical Storm Cristobal (2002)
Tropical Storm Cristobal peaked at 45 kt in the North Atlantic between August 5, 2002 and August 8, 2002, with a lowest pressure of 999 mb. It killed 3 people in the United States, by the National Weather Service’s record.
Track and intensity
The whole track of Tropical Storm Cristobal, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2002 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.
The storm
- Basin
- North Atlantic
- Dates
- August 5, 2002 to August 8, 2002
- Peak strength
- Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
- Lowest pressure
- 999 mb (29.50 inHg)
- Landfall
- No; closest approach 224 km (139 mi)
- Accumulated cyclone energy
- 1.6
- Tropical-storm-force wind reached
- 120 nmi (222 km, 138 mi) from the center at its widest
- Eyewall radius at its peak
- 70 nmi (130 km, 81 mi)
- Overall size
- 150 nmi (278 km, 173 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
- Fastest the center moved
- 23 kt (26 mph)
- Identifier
- AL032002
Deaths and damage
The sources count different things and are not added together.
NOAA Storm Events
3 deaths (3 direct, 0 indirect)none recorded
What National Weather Service offices recorded county by county in 1 states and marine areas, in the United States only. Property and crop damage as each office estimated it, which is not a national loss total.
In the United States
NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.
- Deaths
- 3 (3 direct, 0 indirect)
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- none recorded
- Crop damage
- none recorded
- Events recorded
- 2 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas
State by state
| State or marine area | Deaths | Injuries | Damage | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 3 | 0 | 2 |
What was recorded
2 rip current.
Track
| Time (UTC) | Position | Wind | Pressure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 18:00 | 32.0N 77.2W | 30 kt | 1008 mb | Tropical depression |
| Aug 6, 00:00 | 31.5N 77.1W | 30 kt | 1004 mb | Tropical depression |
| Aug 6, 06:00 | 31.1N 77.0W | 30 kt | 1004 mb | Tropical depression |
| Aug 6, 12:00 | 30.7N 76.6W | 30 kt | 1004 mb | Tropical depression |
| Aug 6, 18:00 | 30.4N 76.4W | 35 kt | 1002 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 7, 00:00 | 30.1N 76.2W | 40 kt | 999 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 7, 06:00 | 29.7N 76.2W | 40 kt | 999 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 7, 12:00 | 29.4N 76.0W | 40 kt | 999 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 7, 18:00 | 29.7N 75.7W | 40 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 8, 00:00 | 29.7N 75.3W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 8, 06:00 | 29.7N 74.9W | 45 kt | 1000 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 8, 12:00 | 29.9N 74.0W | 45 kt | 1003 mb | Tropical storm |
| Aug 8, 18:00 | 31.0N 72.0W | 45 kt | 1008 mb | Tropical storm |
Other North Atlantic storms of 2002
- Tropical Storm ArthurNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Tropical Storm BerthaNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Tropical Storm DollyNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Tropical Storm EdouardNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Tropical Storm FayNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Hurricane GustavNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Tropical Storm HannaNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Hurricane IsidoreNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Tropical Storm JosephineNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Hurricane KyleNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Hurricane LiliNorth Atlantic · 2002
- Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 2002
What this means
A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.
Sources
Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.