1 thunderstorm wind, 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 Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 12, 12:58 PM CST, 8 hours 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 158 PM CDT SUN MAY 12 2002 RUNNING BEHIND DUE TO A VARIETY OF EQUIPMENT ISSUES SO WILL BE BRIEF. COLD FRONT NEAR A TULSA-JOPLIN LINE AT 130 PM. FRONT WILL SWEEP ACROSS OUR CWFA BETWEEN 8 PM THIS EVENING AND 9 AM MONDAY MORNING. EXPECT FRONT TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY SQUALL LINE WITH SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL. HEAVIEST RAIN EXPECTED OVER SOUTHEAST HALF OF CWFA...WHERE FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES ARE ALSO LOW...BUT WILL FOREGO FLOOD WATCH DUE TO EXPECTED BRIEF DURATION OF RAINS. SEVERAL AREAS COULD SEE ONE TO TWO INCHES IN A SHORT TIME AND WILL MENTION HEAVY RAIN IN ZONES. LOW CLOUDS WILL BE A LITTLE SLOW TO SHRED OUT MONDAY IN STRONG COLD ADVECTION REGIME SO WILL UNDERCUT FWC MOS AND LEAN TOWARD COOLER MAV. DRY WEATHER THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY AND POSSIBLY LONGER...WITH CONSIDERABLE UNCERTAINTY IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD. CHANGES WILL BE MINIMAL AS FOCUS IS ON FIRST 24 HOURS. HRO 51/69 48/76 52 +000 LIT 62/75 51/80 55 9100 HOT 62/73 50/82 55 9-00 PBF 64/72 53/81 56 8300 .LZK...NONE. 54
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
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:42 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds downed several trees. A truck sustained damaged when a large tree fell on it.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 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: 5295464.