1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Sep 18, 10:08 AM CST, 3 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 1108 AM CDT WED SEP 18 2002 NEW MODEL RUNS SHIFT MOST OF THE RAIN AND UPPER LIFT EAST OF ALABAMA THIS AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...PLENTY OF MOISTURE LEFT BEHIND AND SHOULD SEE SCATTERED CONVECTION DEVELOPING THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY DUE TO HEATING. I WILL LOWER POPS ALL ZONES WITH BEST CHANCES REMAINING OVER THE TENNESSEE VALLEY REGION. CLOUDS HAVE BEEN THINNING OUT RAPIDLY OVER SOUTHERN AREAS...AND WILL CHANGE FORECAST TO PARTLY CLOUDY AND RAISE AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES INTO THE LOWER 90S. .BHM...NONE.
ALZ001>050-181901- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 101 PM CDT WED SEP 18 2002 HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA. A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS REMAINS ACROSS THE AREA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MORE NUMEROUS ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTHERN SECTIONS AND ALSO DURING THE PEAK HEATING HOURS OF THE AFTERNOON. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL NOT BE NECESSARY.
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:41 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A small tornado touched down briefly in a cotton field just southwest of the intersection of Countess Road and US 231 just south of Meridianville. A storm spotter video taped the funnel cloud just prior to the touchdown. Beg: 34 49.627/86 34.441 End: 34 49.686/86 34.360
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 2002Warnings in Alabama, September 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: 5315741.