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 Jackson, MS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 18, 3:37 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS 330 PM CST WED DEC 17 2002 MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGES REMAIN THE EVOLUTION OF THE SEVERE WEATHER EVENT FOR OVERNIGHT INTO THURSDAY OVER THE ENTIRE CWFA. MOIST ENVIRONMENT IS ALREADY FUELING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE CWFA. CONVECTION LOOKS TO BECOME MORE ORGANIZED DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND IS EXPECTED TO APPROACH THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE CWFA THIS EVENING. SEVERAL BANDS OF CONVECTION ARE MOST LIKELY...WITH SEVERE STORMS PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND HAIL. ALSO...WITH LOW LEVEL SHEAR VALUES (0 TO 1 KM) INCREASING TO AROUND 200 TO 300...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS AND NORTHWEST MS...TORNADIC CELLS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. NOT QUITE CONFIDENT ON HOW THE SYSTEM WILL EVOLVE AFTER MIDNIGHT. THE MAIN UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS WILL SHOOT OFF TO THE NORTH...AND OVER EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE CWFA...INSTABILITY IS MARGINAL. HOWEVER...WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 60S...FRONTAL FORCING...GOOD VERTICAL VELOCITIES...AND JET DYNAMICS...WILL LEAVE IN THE MENTION OF SEVERE FOR THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWFA DURING THE DAY THURSDAY. THE ACTUAL COLD FRONT SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST AREA BY LATER THURSDAY NIGHT...WITH HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING IN FROM THE WEST FOR FRIDAY. IN THE EXTENDED...HIGH PRESSURE IN CONTROL THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY UNTIL THE NEXT FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND 500MB LEVEL SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE CWFA BY LATE SATURDAY AND INTO SUNDAY. FRONTAL BOUNDARY SHOULD NOT HAVE MUCH MOISTURE TO WORK WITH...AND UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS LOOK TO GO WELL NORTH OF THE CWFA. WILL TAKE OUT THE MENTION OF THUNDER...AND LEAVE THE SHOWERS. THE NEXT BEST SYSTEM LOOKS TO BE IN THE TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY TIME FRAME. NORTHWARD MOVING LOW FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO LOOKS TO MOVE EAST ALONG THE GULF COAST. MOISTURE SHOULD BE PLENTIFUL AND SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE PROBABLE. PRELIM NUMBERS... JAN 59/66/42/58/34 68400 MEI 55/68/43/59/33 48500 .JAN... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. MS...NONE. 32
ARZ074-075-LAZ007>009-015-016-023>026-MSZ018-019-025>066-072>074- 191200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS 258 PM CST WED DEC 18 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI... NORTHEAST LOUISIANA...AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... ...THUNDERSTORMS... SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY MORNING...OVER THE AREA ALONG AND WEST OF A LINE FROM MANTEE...TO WALNUT GROVE...TO PUCKETT...TO RUTH. THE GREATEST RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER OVERNIGHT WILL EXIST WEST OF A LINE FROM GORE SPRINGS MISSISSIPPI...TO YAZOO CITY...TO TALLULAH LOUISIANA...TO AIMWELL. THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. TORNADOES WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. WITH AN EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY...THE UPPER LEVEL WINDS WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS EVENING. AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES SLOWLY FROM THE NORTHWEST OVERNIGHT...THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD MOVE SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REGION AND WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD. ...FLOODING... LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT...MAINLY ALONG AND WEST OF A LINE FROM EUPORA MISSISSIPPI...TO KOSCIUSKO...TO VICKSBURG...TO VIDALIA LOUISIANA. WATER MAY BRIEFLY POND ON STREETS AND HIGHWAYS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... ...DAYS TWO AND THREE... THE COMBINATION OF STRONG UPPER LEVEL WIND SHEAR AND SIGNIFICANT INSTABILITY WILL ALLOW STRONG STORMS TO DEVELOP THURSDAY. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER NORTHEAST LOUISIANA...EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS...AND MUCH OF MISSISSIPPI. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...LARGE HAIL...AND DAMAGING WINDS. A FEW TORNADOES COULD DEVELOP AS WELL. THE COLD FRONT WILL GRADUALLY MOVE SOUTHEAST AND INTO THE EASTERN COUNTIES OF MISSISSIPPI BY LATE THURSDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER EASTERN MISSISSIPPI THURSDAY EVENING AND THEN WILL TAPER OFF AFTER MIDNIGHT. BY FRIDAY MORNING...THE COLD FRONT WILL BE ALMOST TO THE ATLANTIC COAST. BEHIND THIS FRONT...HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE REGION AND WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE. ...DAYS FOUR THROUGH SEVEN... AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO DEEPEN OVER TEXAS BY TUESDAY. AT THE SURFACE...A STRONG LOW PRESSURE AREA WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF THIS TROUGH. THIS SURFACE LOW WILL EVENTUALLY MOVE EAST INTO THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY. WITH AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS EXPECTED TO BE IN PLACE...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS...NORTHEAST LOUISIANA AND MUCH OF MISSISSIPPI ON CHRISTMAS EVE. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS...MAY BE NEEDED BY 10 PM TONIGHT AND AGAIN THURSDAY. WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO DETERIORATE AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES...WITH SEVERE STORMS BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD AFTER MIDNIGHT. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/JAN. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado briefly touched down 5 miles north of North Crossett, toppling several trees along State Road 133. In addition, a shed was destroyed and the roof was removed from a barn. Producing no injuries, the tornado traveled about one mile before lifting.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arkansas, 2002Warnings in Arkansas, December 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: 5324132.