1 heat, 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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 30, 2:21 PM CST, 1 hour 39 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 221 PM CST WED JAN 30 2002 EXCEPTIONALLY WARM...SPRINGLIKE AIRMASS WILL LINGER OVER AL FOR ONE MORE DAY...WITH A RETURN TO COOLER READINGS BY THE WEEKEND AS A VIGOROUS TROUGH OVER THE SW US TRANSITS THE AREA THURS NGT/FRI AND PUSHES A FAIRLY STRONG COLD FRONT ACRS THE FA. VERY LITTLE IN THE WAY OF LIFT TNGT OR THURS...KEEPING PCPN CHCS IN CHECK. WL INCLUDE A SMALL POP IN THE XTRM NW TNGT WHERE THETA-E RIDGING WL BE A BIT MORE EVIDENT...AND WHERE SHWRS ARE CRNTLY ONGOING. WL HOLD ONTO SMALL POPS FROM BHM NWD THURS AS WELL...AGAIN DUE TO SLGTLY BETTER LIFT/MSTR OVR THIS PART OF THE AREA. STILL PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND...SO WL INCLUDE A MENTION OF LOW CLOUDS/PATCHY FOG FOR TNGT. LATEST MODEL RUNS SEEM TO SLOW DOWN THE ARRIVAL OF THE FRONT...UPPER TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED PCPN THURS NGT/FRI. MAIN CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS FCST WILL BE TO BACK OFF ON POPS SLIGTLY THURS NGT...AND HOLD OR RAISE SLGTLY EVERYWHERE FRI. STILL LOOKS LIKE THE PCPN WILL ENTER WRN AL THURS NGT IN THE FORM OF A GRADUALLY WEAKENING SQUALL LINE...WITH STRONG STRAIGHT LINE WINDS THE MAIN THREAT. FCST SHEAR VALUES ARE FAIRLY STRONG THURS NGT...BUT INSTABILITY WL BE WEAK...AND WL GROW WEAKER WITH TIME. GIVEN THE WEAKENING DYNAMICS AND LACK OF MAJOR INSTABILITY...AM NOT OVERLY IMPRESSED WITH CHCS FOR SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WX THURS NGT...AND WL HOLD OFF ON MENTIONING AT THIS TIME. IN THE EXTENDED...LATEST AVN RUN TRIES TO PHASE A PAIR OF SHORTWAVES OVR AL SUN AND BREAK OUT A LTL PCPN ACRS THE SRN COUNTIES. NOT REAL CONFIDENT ABOUT THIS DEVELOPMENT...BUT MRF ENSEMBLES AND CANADIAN MODEL TREND TOWARD THIS AS WELL...SO WILL BEEF UP THE CLOUD WRDG SUN AND INCLUDE A SMALL POP ACRS THE SRN ZONES. NO OTHER MAJOR CHANGES TO EXTENDED AT THIS TIME. WENT ABOVE MOS GUIDANCE ON MINS TNGT AND THURS. 66 HSV EW 062/075 058/058 030 661286 BHM EW 060/078 062/062 034 661266 MGM EW 059/080 061/067 035 660136 .BHM...NONE.
ALZ001>050-310900- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1259 PM CST WED JAN 30 2002 HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA. A VERY MOIST AND TROPICAL AIRMASS TO REMAIN OVER ALABAMA. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A SHOWER BUT NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT. THE ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL INCREASE THE THREAT OF DENSE FOG LATE TONIGHT AND TOMORROW MORNING...WITH VISIBILITIES AGAIN BEING REDUCED TO LESS THAN A QUARTER OF A MILE IN SOME AREAS. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL NOT BE NECESSARY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The high temperature reported at the Huntsville International Airport was 77 degrees breaking the old record of 70 degrees set in 1975.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, January 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: 5279973.