1 tornado, 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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 24, 2:45 AM CST, 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 245 AM CST TUE DEC 24 2002 SETTING UP TO BE A BUSY CHRISTMAS EVE WEATHER WISE. AFTER LOOKING AT 00Z MODEL DATA...APPEARS FORECAST STILL APPEARS ON TRACK...WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FCST AREA BECOMING MORE NUMEROUS TOWARD DAYBREAK AS A STRONG SQUALL LINE CURRENTLY EXTENDING NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS WESTERN MISSISSIPPI INTO CENTRAL LOUISIANA. OUT AHEAD OF THIS SQUALL LINE...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE BECOMING MORE INTENSE...WITH SOME SVR AND/OR TORNADIC STORMS POSSIBLE THROUGH SUNRISE. TORNADO WATCH 803 IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 AM FOR MUCH OF THE FCST AREA AND JUST CONCLUDED CONFERENCE CALL WITH SPC. WILL ISSUE NEW TORNADO WATCH...NUMBER 804...WHICH WILL COVER MY ENTIRE CWFA UNTIL 15Z THIS MORNING. EXPECT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE OVER MUCH OF THE FCST AREA THROUGH AT LEAST NOON TODAY. TORNADO THREAT WILL BE GREATEST WITH SCATTERED STORMS OUT AHEAD OF THE SQUALL LINE...WITH BOWS AND LEWPS IN SQUALL LINE BEING THE PRIMARY SVR THREAT LATER ON THIS MORNING. MEDIA...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND STORM SPOTTERS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS THROUGH AT LEAST EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. MODELS DIDNT SEEM TO INITIALIZE THE SQUALL LINE VERY WELL AT ALL...BUT ETA DOES SEEM TO HAVE A LITTLE BETTER HANDLE THROUGH THE SHORT TERM. EVEN WITH SMALL DIFFERENCES...MODELS AGREE THAT FRONT WILL BE THROUGH MOST OF THE FCST AREA BY THIS EVENING. STILL LOOKS LIKE THE COLD FRONT SHOULD CLEAR MOST OF THE CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FCST AREA...AND TO THE EAST IN THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. GRADUAL CLEARING SKIES EXPECTED FROM THE WEST THROUGH CHRISTMAS MORNING. WILL COOL IT DOWN BEHIND THE FRONT THURSDAY WITH MID 20S WELL INLAND BY THURSDAY MORNING. WILL MAKE NO CHANGES TO CURRENT EXTENDED FCST. MARINE...SCA CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE MARINE AREA TODAY...ALONG WITH SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE COASTAL WATERS TODAY. FIRE...NO HIGHLIGHTS. 12/SHEPHERD PRELIMINARY CCF NUMBERS... MOB TU 068/040 053/030 053 12+10 PNS TU 070/042 053/033 053 12+20 DTS TU 070/044 054/034 052 12+20 GZH TU 068/039 049/027 049 12+20 2R0 TU 062/035 048/025 049 12+10 61A TU 068/039 049/027 049 12+20 MOB... AL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ630-650-670. FL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ655-675. MS...NONE.
ALZ051>064-FLZ001>006-MSZ067-075-076-078-079-240300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 150 PM CST MON DEC 23 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI... SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...AND THE WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE UP FROM SOUTHERN LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON AND SPREAD NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE EVENING. INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND INSTABILITIES BEHIND A NORTHWARD MOVING WARM FRONT COULD RESULT IN A FEW STRONG STORMS TONIGHT...HOWEVER WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER OVERNIGHT IS EXPECTED TO BE WEST OF THE REGION...MAINLY FOCUSED ALONG AND AHEAD OF A STRONG COLD FRONT THAT PUSHES INTO SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA SOMETIME EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...STORM SPOTTERS AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE REQUIRED THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY TUESDAY...A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH OUT OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND INTO SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL PUSH INTO SOUTHWEST ALABAMA BY LATE TUESDAY MORNING...THEN ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL ALABAMA AND THE WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE DURING THE AFTERNOON. THE LIKELIHOOD OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE GREATER WITH THE STORMS THAT MOVE INTO THE REGION TUESDAY MORNING...MAINLY WEST OF THE I-65 CORRIDOR. THE MAIN WEATHER THREAT WILL BE ISOLATED TORNADOES OUT AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING SQUALL LINE...THEN DAMAGING WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH BOWING STORMS EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LINE OF STORMS. THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...STORM SPOTTERS AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS MAY BE REQUIRED BEGINNING EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...THE COLD FRONT AND ASSOCIATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL PUSH WELL EAST OF THE REGION BY EARLY TUESDAY EVENING. DRIER AND COOLER CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL CHRISTMAS DAY AND CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND AS A REINFORCING SHOT OF COLD AIR ARRIVES SOMETIME LATE ON FRIDAY.
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:03 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak tornado briefly touched down near Millry. Several trees were blown down and minor roof damage occurred to a building.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 2002Warnings in Alabama, December 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: 5326858.