Name: Hail in Alabama, May 2, 2002
Start: 2002-05-02T18:54
End: 2002-05-02T18:54
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 May 2, 2:00 PM CST, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 2:00 PM CST, 4 hours 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
300 PM CDT THU MAY 02 2002

AIR MASS OVER FORECAST AREA REMAINS UNSTABLE AND ANY CAP IS SLOWLY
BEING BROKEN DOWN BY THE AFTERNOON HEATING AND APPROACHING FRONT.
FRONT EXTENDS FROM MIDDLE TN TO AR AND MODELS AGREE IT SHOULD SLOWLY
PUSH INTO AL THROUGH THE NIGHT...AND STALL ACROSS THE CENTRAL PART OF
THE STATE. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH STRONG WINDS AND
HAIL. ANOTHER IMPULSE WILL MOVE OVER THE NORTHERN THIRD OF THE STATE
ON FRIDAY WITH A CHANCE OF ADDITIONAL SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. WILL
INDICATE LIKELY POPS NORTH TONIGHT TO CHANCE CENTRAL...CHANCE
FRIDAY...AND LIKLEY ON FRIDAY NIGHT. THE CHANCE OF RAIN WILL DECREASE
ON SATURDAY AND INTO SUNDAY. IN THE EXTENDED HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS
OVER THE SOUTHEAST AND WILL PROBABLY HAVE SOME DAILY CAP. WILL TAKE
OUT ANY MENTION OF PRECIPITATION IN THE NORTH BY WEDNESDAY AND
LEAVE OUT ANY POPS FURTHER SOUTH.

HSV 063/070 058/071 756
BHM 065/073 061/080 656
MGM 068/083 064/083 353

.BHM...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 2, 3:45 PM CST, 3 hours 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
445 PM CDT THU MAY 02 2002

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

0425 PM    CLOVERDALE                AL   0.88 IN HAIL
05/02/02   LAUDERDALE                     SPOTTER REPORT OF NICKEL
                                          SIZE HAIL - RELAYED BY
                                          LAUDERDALE EMA OFFICE.

Local storm report, May 2, 4:18 PM CST, 2 hours 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
518 PM CDT THU MAY 02 2002

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

0459 PM    ANDERSON                  AL   0.88 IN HAIL
05/02/02   LAUDERDALE                     SPOTTER REPORT OF NICKEL
                                          SIZE HAIL.  REPORT
                                          RELAYED BY LAUDERDALE
                                          COUNTY EMA.

0501 PM    LEXINGTON                 AL   0.88 IN HAIL
05/02/02   LAUDERDALE                     NICKEL SIZE HAIL EAST OF
                                          LEXINGTON.

Local storm report, May 2, 4:53 PM CST, 2 hours 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
553 PM CDT THU MAY 02 2002

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

0540 PM    ARDMORE                   AL   WIND DAMAGE
05/02/02   LIMESTONE                      ROOF OFF OF HOME 7 MILES
                                          SOUTH OF ARDMORE

Local storm report, May 2, 5:17 PM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
617 PM CDT THU MAY 02 2002

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

0556 PM    HAZEL GREEN               AL   0.88 IN HAIL
05/02/02   MADISON                        NICKEL SIZE HAIL REPORTED
                                          NEAR HAZEL GREEN.  REPORT
                                          RELAYED BY MADISON COUNTY
                                          EMA.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lauderdale

When: May 2, 6:54 PM CST
Where: Lauderdale County, Florence
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 34.800, -87.667

Pea to dime size hail fell near Florence along the Tennessee River.

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, May 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: 5294475.