1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 21, 2:20 AM PST, 4 hours 27 minutes earlier.
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 320 AM PDT TUE MAY 21 2002 DEEP NEGATIVELY TILTED TROUGH WAS SUPPORTING SCATTERED SHOWERS ACROSS THE CWA EARLY THIS MORNING. WITH JET MAX EVIDENT ROUNDING BASE...EASTWARD PROGRESSION OF TROUGH AXIS SHOULD CONT THIS MORNING WITH SUBSIDENCE FOLLOWING IN ITS WAKE. WILL MAINTAIN POPS FOR RESIDUAL SHOWERS EARLY THIS MORNING. HOWEVER SINCE KHNX VWP SHOWS MID LEVEL FLOW HAS BACKED TO THE W-NW AND WEAKENED...AND SINCE LAST BATCH OF COLD TOPS WAS WARMING NEAR YOSEMITE...WILL ALLOW WINTER STORM WARNING AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TO EXPIRE AT 0400 PDT. PROXIMITY OF UPPER JET AND ALIGNMENT WITH SURFACE P-GRADS WERE SUPPORTING SOME LOCALLY WINDY CONDITIONS IN THE KERN MTNS AND DESERTS...BUT SPEEDS WILL DIMINISH AS JET DEPARTS LATER THIS MORNING. ALTHOUGH FLOW WILL REMAIN UNIDIRECTIONAL THIS AFTERNOON... WITH PROGS PROJECTING RATHER WEAK DVM AND DECREASED MOMENTUM ALOFT...WILL KEEP SPEEDS BELOW WAD LEVELS. SLOW AIRMASS MODERATION WILL OCCUR OVER THE CWA WED-THURS AS ERN PAC RIDGE SLOWLY MOVES ONSHORE. SURFACE P-GRADS ARE PROGGED TO REMAIN RELATIVELY WEAK...HOWEVER MAGNITUDE MAY SUPPORT SOME SUMMER-LIKE AFTN/EVE BREEZES. MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE IS PROJECTING DIFFERING SOLUTIONS REGARDING UPPER PATTERN EVOLUTION FOR DAYS 4-7...HOWEVER CONSENSUS FAVORS A SUPPRESSION OF UPPER HEIGHTS AS A QUASI-ZONAL FLOW BECOMING ESTABLISHED OVER THE ERN PAC. AFT COORD WITH ADJACENT WFOS...WILL INTRO CHANCE POPS TO THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AND INCREASE CLOUD COVER ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE DISTRICT. .HNX...NONE. JSN
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Following severe weather on the 20th through Interior Central California, gusty wind in the Kern Deserts caused some local wind problems in the form of blowing sand and dust late on the 21st. Highly localized northwest wind gusted to 60 knots mid-day around the Mojave Airport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, 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: 5291630.