Hail in California, May 20, 2002

Name: Hail in California, May 20, 2002
Start: 2002-05-20T13:40
End: 2002-05-20T15:15
Location: California

May 20, 2002 · NWS HNX · 4 events in 1 county or zone

Hail damage to area agriculture was substantial during the course of this inclement weather day in the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley. but copious amounts of smaller hail that caused vegetable and citrus and other fruit scarring, and stripped deciduous trees of smaller fruit.

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: None recorded
Crop damage: $24 million
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 HNX wrote it up.

Hail damage to area agriculture was substantial during the course of this inclement weather day in the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley. In Fresno County alone $24.3M of damage occurred due to not only severe threshold level hail...but copious amounts of smaller hail that caused vegetable and citrus and other fruit scarring, and stripped deciduous trees of smaller fruit.

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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 20, 1:00 PM PST, 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 1:00 PM PST, 40 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
200 PM PDT MON MAY 20 2002

WATER VAPOR LOOPS SHOW COLD CORE LOW MOVING INTO NORCAL EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON. ONE VORT LOPE FROM THIS LOW MOVED OVER CENTRAL CA EARLIER
THIS MORNING AND IS MOVING EAST OF THE SIERRA CREST. SECOND VORT
LOBE IS MOVING ONTO THE CENTRAL COAST NOW...AND WILL PASS THRU THE
AREA LATER THIS AFTERNOON. A THIRD VORT LOBE SEEN OUT AT 125W...AND
THIS WILL MOVE THRU THIS EVE. THESE WILL KEEP SHOWERS AND T-STORMS
PERSISTENT THRU THIS EVE...BEFORE UPPER TROF AXIS SWINGS THRU...AND
DRYING BEGINS FROM THE NW OVERNITE. WINDS IN THE KERN MTNS AND
DESERTS HAVE BEEN SLOW TO PICK UP...BUT STILL THINK THIS WILL OCCUR
LATER THIS AFTERNOON...AND WILL LEAVE WAD UP FOR NOW. ON TUES...MTNS
REMAIN IN A SLIGHT CYCLONIC FLOW...AND WITH LINGERING MOISTURE...
WILL CONT WITH SOME LOW CHANCE POPS THOSE AREAS. VALLEY ZONES MAY
SEE SOME SUN FROM TIME TO TIME...BUT FOR THE MOST PART...MOIST COOL
AIRMASS WILL ALLOW DEVELOPMENT OF A LOT OF SC...BUT SHOULD NOT SEE
ANY PRECIP. HEIGHTS WILL GRADUALLY RISE TUE AND WED...AND TEMPS
SHOULD MODERATE ABOUT 10 DEGREES WED...UNDER MOSUNNY SKIES. FOR
THURS...THE AVN DROPS AN INSIDE SLIDER TYPE SYS INTO THE GREAT BASIN
AND STABILIZES HEIGHTS TEMPORARILY...BUT STILL SHOULD SEE ANOTHER
COUPLE OF DEGS WARMING. AFTER THURS...FLAT RIDGE BUILDS ACROSS THE
REGION...AND TEMPS WILL RISE TO A LITTLE ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE
HOLIDAY WEEKEND.  FAT 7-00 BFL 6-00 YNP +300     BINGHAM

.HNX...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON.
    ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TONIGHT FOR THE TULARE COUNTY
       MOUNTAINS.
    ...WIND ADVISORY THIS EVENING FOR THE KERN MOUNTAINS AND
       DESERTS.

The radar

The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:40 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Fresno

When: May 20, 1:40 PM PST to 1:45 PM PST
Where: Fresno County, 8 mi NNE of (Fat) Air Terminal
Measured: 1 in hail
Crop damage: $24 million
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.867, -119.667

Hail, Fresno

When: May 20, 2:00 PM PST to 2:05 PM PST
Where: Fresno County, 1 mi NW of Clovis
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 36.833, -119.717

Hail, Fresno

When: May 20, 2:27 PM PST to 2:30 PM PST
Where: Fresno County, 2 mi ESE of Fig Garden
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.817, -119.783

Hail, Fresno

When: May 20, 3:00 PM PST to 3:15 PM PST
Where: Fresno County, 1 mi NW of Clovis
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.833, -119.717

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, 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: 5290956, 5290953, 5290955, 5290954.