Name: Damaging Wind in Arkansas, May 7, 2002
Start: 2002-05-07T08:50
End: 2002-05-07T08:55
Location: Arkansas

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: $5,000
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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 7, 2:10 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:10 AM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
310 AM CDT TUE MAY 7 2002

A SUBTROPICAL HIGH WAS WELL ESTABLISHED OVER THE SE STATES AND WILL
REMAIN IN PLACE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. AN MCS OVER THE MID MS VLY
EXTENDED INTO SW MO AND CONTAINED A GOOD SQUALL LINE MOVING SEWD.
EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO WEAKEN AND LIKELY DISSIPATE BEFORE REACHING
OUR NW COUNTIES. WILL INCLUDE A SLT POP OF TSTMS IN THE NW ZONES TDY
AND NE ZONES THIS AFTERNOON DUE TO AN UPPER SHORTWAVE COMBINED WITH
AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY SOMEWHERE N OF THE CWFA. WILL CONT SLT POPS IN
THE N TNT FROM THE SAME SHORTWAVE BEFORE IT MOVES EWD. WITH THE
LACK OF FORCING WED...WILL LEAVE THAT DAY DRY IN ALL AREAS. WARM AND
MOIST AIR WILL SUPPORT LOW LEVEL INSTABILITY TDY AND WED...BUT MID
LEVEL CAPPING WILL INHIBIT A LOT OF TSTM ACTIVITY.

A COLD FRONT IN THE MIDWEST WILL BE JUST NW OF THE CWFA 12Z THU AND
MOVE THROUGH THE ENTIRE AREA DURING THE DAY THU. WILL INCREASE POPS
WED NITE...ESPECIALLY IN THE NW. WILL GO 50 POPS IN ALL AREAS THU.
DRIER AND SOMEWHAT COOLER AIR WILL PUSH IN THU NITE AND FRI...THEN
A RETURN FLOW PATTERN WILL SETUP SAT-SUN. THE NEXT CHC OF PCPN WILL
BE MON WITH THE NEXT COLD FRONT.

PRELIM VALUES...
MEM 86/72/87/69/75 11135
MKL 84/69/87/68/74 22135
JBR 84/69/87/67/71 22145
TUP 87/70/87/69/79 11125

.MEG...NONE.

SWC

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 142 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:49 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Randolph

When: May 7, 8:50 AM CST to 8:55 AM CST
Where: Randolph County, Pocahontas
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.267, -90.967

A couple of power lines were knocked down.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arkansas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, 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: 5300179.