Name: Hail in Alabama, March 29, 2002
Start: 2002-03-29T21:35
End: 2002-03-29T21:35
Location: Alabama

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Mar 29, 8:32 PM CST, 1 hour 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 29, 8:32 PM CST, 1 hour 3 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
832 PM CST FRI MAR 29 2002

SVR TSTM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR PARTS OF NORTH ALABAMA. LATEST
SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS THE COLD FRONT FROM SW TN INTO CENTRAL KY...
SLOWLY MOVING SOUTHEAST. SEVERE CONVECTION ONGOING ALONG THE FRONT
WITH SCATTERED ACTIVITY DEVELOPING IN NW AL ATTM. MANY HAIL REPORTS
HAVE COME IN FROM THIS ACTIVITY....THEREFORE GREATEST THREAT APPEARS
TO BE FROM LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...BUT ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE
STILL POSSIBLE. LINE SHOULD CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL MORE HOURS BUT SOME
DECREASE IN INTENSITY SHOULD OCCUR OVERNIGHT. WITH ISSUE UPDATE
SHORTLY...BUT CURRENT ZONE PACKAGE HAS SITUATION HANDLED QUITE GOOD.

MAIN UPDATE CHANGE WILL BE TO BUMP TEMPS UP A TAD IN SOME
LOCATIONS...MAINLY WEST AND NORTH. DEW POINTS IN THE 60S MOST
SPOTS...SOUTH WINDS TO CONTINUE OVERNIGHT...AND INCREASING CLOUDS.

75

.BHM...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 29, 9:21 PM CST, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
921 PM CST FRI MAR 29 2002

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0905 PM    NEWBURG                   AL   0.88 IN HAIL
03/29/02   FRANKLIN                       NICKEL SIZE HAIL WAS
                                          REPORTED IN EASTERN
                                          FRANKLIN COUNTY NEAR
                                          NEWBURG.

0905 PM    HATTON                    AL   0.88 IN HAIL
03/29/02   LAWRENCE                       NICKEL SIZE HAIL FELL
                                          ACROSS WESTERN LAWRENCE
                                          NEAR HATTON.

0909 PM    MOULTON                   AL   0.88 IN HAIL
03/29/02   LAWRENCE                       NICKEL SIZE HAIL WAS
                                          REPORTED IN MOULTON.

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:34 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Morgan

When: March 29, 9:35 PM CST
Where: Morgan County, Trinity
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.617, -87.083

Nickel size hail was observed in the Trinity area.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, March 2002

Sources

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: 5284531.