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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 12, 2:00 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 300 PM CDT FRI JUL 12 2002 WILL GENERALLY GO ALONG WITH THE AVN. UPPER LOW SETTLES INTO OK/AR/MO BY SATURDAY AND THAN DRIFTS WEST ON SUNDAY. SURFACE AND UPPER RIDGE START TO BUILD OVER THE FORECAST AREA ON MONDAY AND BECOMES THE CONTROLLING FACTOR INTO THE EXTENDED FORECAST. THE EXTENDED WILL BE DRIER AND WARMER THAN THE PAST FEW DAYS. FOR THE MORE IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS. SHORT WAVE COMING AROUND THE UPPER LOW SUPPORTS THE AREA OF RAIN THAT HAS BEEN APPROACHING ALABAMA ALL AFTERNOON. HOWEVER A SURFACE WEDGE HAS MANAGED TO PUSH INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH LOWER DP FROM WEST TO EAST. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DIMINISH AS THEY MOVE EAST TONIGHT. OTHER SCATTERED SHOWERS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST HOUR ELSEWHERE OVER THE FORECAST AREA. VERY MOIST AIRMASS REMAINS ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA ON SATURDAY WITH CONVECTION DEPENDING MORE ON DAYTIME HEATING RATHER THAN UPPER DYNAMICS. WILL USE 70 PERCENT NORTHWEST TO 40 PERCENT NORTHEAST AND 30 PERCENT ELSEWHERE TONIGHT. WILL USE 50 PERCENT NORTH TO 60 PERCENT SOUTH FOR SATURDAY. HSV 071/088 070/088 454 BHM 071/088 072/086 354 MGM 072/091 072/089 364 .BHM...NONE.
ALZ001>050-122030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 130 PM CDT FRI JUL 12 2002 HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA... THE TYPICAL SUMMER WEATHER WILL CONTINUE ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR OVER THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL PRODUCE FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES...HEAVY RAIN AMOUNTS...AND STRONG WIND GUSTS. AN ISOLATED STORM COULD PRODUCE DOWNBURSTS REACHING SEVERE LIMITS...BUT NO ORGANIZED OR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY. WET MICROBURST POTENTIAL FACTOR: HUNTSVILLE...3 BIRMINGHAM...3 MONTGOMERY...3
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:31 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorms produced frequent lightning across the Birmingham metropolitan area. Several power lines were knocked out across the city due to lightning strikes.
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, July 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: 5306522.