Alabama, 2002

Hurricane in Alabama, October 2 to 3, 2002

October 2 to 3, 2002 · NWS MOB · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Hurricane Lili moved west of the area but brought high waves and some rains to the coast. Mobile and Baldwin counties were put under a Tropical Storm Warning at 300 AM CST on Wednesday October 2.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$175,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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 happened

The episode as NWS MOB wrote it up.

Hurricane Lili moved west of the area but brought high waves and some rains to the coast. Mobile and Baldwin counties were put under a Tropical Storm Warning at 300 AM CST on Wednesday October 2. The Tropical Storm Warning was lowered Thursday afternoon at 100 PM CST on October 3 as Lili moved through central Louisiana.Some of the highest winds recorded across Southwest Alabama and Southeast Mississippi were as follows: Mobile Regional Airport, sustained winds of 28 knots with gusts to 36 knots. Brookley Field, sustained winds of 30 knots with gusts to 36 knots. Dauphin Island, sustained winds of 31 knots with gusts to 35 knots. Cedar Point, sustained winds of 26 knots with gusts to 36 knots. Wiggins Mississippi, Gusts to 36 knots.The lowest sea level pressures were recorded at Mobile Regional Airport,1010 MB, Wiggins Mississippi 1007 MB and Lucedale Mississippi, 1006 MB.Rainfall totals during the storm were: In Alabama: Mobile Regional Airport: 0.88, Fairhope: 1.20 and Semmes 0.97 inches. In Mississippi: Wiggins 2.10, Lucedale 0.73 and Beaumont 1.67 inches.The highest storm tides were: Mobile State Docks 4.0 feet, Cedar Point 3.5 feet and Dauphin Island 3.2 feet.Only minor beach erosion occurred from Dauphin Island to Orange Beach.Minor storm tide flooding occurred on the west end of Dauphin Island and in the south part of Mobile county as well as along the Causeway that crosses Mobile Bay. Minor flooding also occurred on the west end of Baldwin county and in Orange Beach.Only one F0 tornado occurred, that being in Stone county in Mississippi.This was the fifth time this season that the area has been threatened by a tropical system. Only minor damage occurred across mostly the coastal areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties with Lili. Water also again backed up along the Dog River in the south part of Mobile county and caused minor damage.

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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 2, 2:20 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 2, 2:20 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
320 AM CDT WED OCT 02 2002

HURRICANE LILI IS INTENSIFYING AND MOVING TOWARD SOUTHWEST
LOUISIANA. TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS ARE BEING POSTED CURRENTLY ACROSS
THE ALABAMA COAST. WHILE MOST OF THE LOCAL AREA WILL NOT BE DIRECTLY
IMPACTED BY THIS STRONG HURRICANE...THE FORECAST CHALLENGE FOR THE
NEXT 1-2 DAYS WILL BE NAILING DOWN THE EXTENT OF STRONG WINDS AND
HEAVY RAINFALL. DUE TO THE DISTANCE OF THE EXPECTED STORM TRACK TO
THE LOCAL AREA...THE MAIN LOCAL IMPACT OF THE STORM WILL LIKELY BE
IN THE FORM OF BATTERING SURF AND ADDITIONAL COASTAL FLOODING IN
AREAS STILL RECOVERING FROM THE PAST TWO TROPICAL STORMS.

HIGH PRESSURE SITUATED OVER THE MID ATLANTIC STATES WILL LIKELY
SERVE TO BLOCK ANY EARLY RECURVATURE LILI...BUT WILL ALSO ALLOW THE
AREA OF STRONG WINDS AROUND LILIS CENTER TO SPREAD SOME DISTANCE TO
THE EAST. WHILE THE ETA MODEL SEEMS TO INITALIZE A LITTLE BETTER
THAN THE AVIATION...TEND TO BELIEVE THE AVIATIONS STRONGER WINDS TO
THE EAST...WHICH MAKES UP FOR THE FACT THAT THE BOTH MODELS
UNDERESTIMATE HOW LOW THE PRESSURE IS IN LILI. THUS WILL KEEP
CURRENT WORDING CALLING FOR WINDY CONDITIONS OVER THE WATER BY
TONIGHT...AND OVER COASTAL AREAS AND INLAND SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
TOMORROW. WILL MONITOR FOR POSSIBLE ISSUANCE OF HIGH WIND
ADVISORY/WARNING FOR TROPICAL STORM WINDS LATER FOR INLAND SOUTHEAST
MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHWEST ALABAMA.

REGIONAL PRECIPITABLE WATER LEVELS ARE RUNNING FROM 1.5 TO 2.0
INCHES. THIS MAY INCREASE A LITTLE AS LILI MOVES THROUGH THE
GULF...BUT DO NOT EXPECT MUCH OF AN INCREASE ESPECIALLY TOWARD THE
NORTHEAST INTO THE RIDGE. THE BETTER RAIN CHANCES WILL REMAIN OVER
THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA AS A RESULT. 24 HOUR BASIN
WIDE RAINFALL AMOUNTS PER HPC CAN RANGE AROUND 1 TO 2 INCHES ALONG
COASTAL COUNTIES AND OVER SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI...WITH LESS EXPECTED
ELSEWHERE. OF COURSE LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE.

COASTAL FLOODING...SWELL PERIODS ARE ALREADY UP TO 12 SECONDS AT
BUOY 42003 IN THE CENTRAL GULF. EXPECT THAT LARGE SWELL WILL REACH
THE COASTLINE BEFORE NOON AND CREATE HEAVY SURF CONDITIONS. THE
CRITICAL PERIOD FOR COASTAL FLOODING WILL COME TOMORROW MORNING WHEN
SWELLS AND ONSHORE FLOW WILL BE AT A HIGH POINT ALONG WITH HIGH
TIDE. A COASTAL FLOOD WATCH IS OUT NOW...AND WILL LIKELY BE UPGRADED
TO A WARNING LATER THIS MORNING.

MARINE...WINDS AND SEAS WILL GRADUALLY PICK UP AS LILI MOVES TOWARD
LOUISIANA. MAY SEE WINDS EXCEED GALE FORCE FOR A TIME BY LATE
TONIGHT AND INTO TOMORROW WITH SEAS REACHING 12 FEET.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS
MOB EW 087/073 083/072 086 13257
PNS BW 087/073 084/073 085 13257
DTS BW 084/073 082/073 084 13245
GZH BW 087/069 086/070 084 13-35
2RO EW 090/072 083/068 083 13137
61A BE 090/072 087/068 083 13014

.MOB...
AL...TROPICAL STORM WARNING THRU THU ALC003-097-GMZ630-650-670
     COASTAL FLOOD WATCH THRU THU ALZ063-064-GMZ630-650
     HEAVY SURF ADVISORY ALONG THE BEACHES ALZ063-064
     SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ630-650-670.
FL...COASTAL FLOOD WATCH THRU THU FLZ002-004-006-GMZ655
     HEAVY SURF ADVISORY ALONG THE BEACHES FLZ002-004-006
     SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ655-675.
MS...NONE.

CHRISTENSEN
Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 2, 7:00 AM CST, 2 hours before
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Event by event

4 hurricane (typhoon). Local standard time, as filed.

Hurricane (Typhoon), Lower Baldwin

When
October 2, 9:00 AM CST to October 3, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Lower Baldwin forecast zone
Property damage
$75,000
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER

Hurricane (Typhoon), Lower Mobile

When
October 2, 9:00 AM CST to October 3, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Lower Mobile forecast zone
Property damage
$100,000
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER

Hurricane (Typhoon), Upper Baldwin

When
October 2, 9:00 AM CST to October 3, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Upper Baldwin forecast zone
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER

Hurricane (Typhoon), Upper Mobile

When
October 2, 9:00 AM CST to October 3, 1:00 PM CST
Where
Upper Mobile forecast zone
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER

What these are

Hurricane (Typhoon)
A tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 64 knots (74 mph) or more, filed per forecast zone for its wind, and with separate events for its flooding, surge and tornadoes.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, October 2002The 2002 hurricane season

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5319177, 5319178, 5319179, 5319180.