Connecticut, 2002

Heat in Connecticut, July 2 to 4, 2002

July 2 to 4, 2002 · NWS OKX · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

Temperatures rose into the mid and upper 90s across interior Southern Connecticut and into the lower and mid 90s along the shores of Long Island Sound. High temperatures and humidities combined to produce heat indices from 100 to 105 degrees across the region, but especially across interior Southern Connecticut.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
1
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
6

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 OKX wrote it up.

Temperatures rose into the mid and upper 90s across interior Southern Connecticut and into the lower and mid 90s along the shores of Long Island Sound. High temperatures and humidities combined to produce heat indices from 100 to 105 degrees across the region, but especially across interior Southern Connecticut. In Greenwich, News Radio 88 (WCBS) reported that a 92 year old man died in his apartment, which was not air conditioned.

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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 8:30 AM EST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 8:30 AM EST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
930 AM EDT TUE JUL 2 2002

THE STORY OF THE DAY WILL BE THE HEAT. ALREADY...AT THIS EARLY
HOUR...MOST PLACES HAVE NUDGED ABOVE THE 80 DEGREE MARK. AND THOSE
THAT HAVENT...WILL SOON GET THERE. BY THIS AFTERNOON...THE MERCURY
WILL RISE WELL UP INTO THE 90S IN ALL AREAS EXCEPT THE EXTREME SOUTH
FACING SHORES...AND THE TWIN FORKS OF LONG ISLAND.

VISIBLE SATELLITE SHOWS AN MCS OVER MAINE. 12Z OKX SOUNDING SHOWS
GENERALLY NORTHEAST FLOW FROM 500 HPA AND UP. WE WILL PROBABLY SEE
SOME UPPER LEVEL DEBRIS FROM THIS SYSTEM...WHICH WILL DECREASE OUR
INSOLATION LATE THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON. THIS THIN CIRRUS LAYER
MAY BE ENOUGH TO HOLD BACK THE TEMPERATURES BY A DEGREE OR TWO.

ON THE FLIP SIDE...WE CONTINUE TO WARM AT VIRTUALLY ALL LEVELS OF
THE ATMOSPHERE. 850 HPA TEMPERATURE THIS MORNING WAS 17.6 DEGREES C
UP FROM 17.4 DEGREES 12 HOURS AGO AND 14.6 DEGREES 24 HOURS AGO. THE
LOW LEVEL WIND PROFILE SHOWS WEST-NORTHWEST COMPONENT...WHICH WILL
LIMIT THE INLAND PROGRESSION OF THE SEABREEZE. WITH DEWPOINTS
HOVERING AROUND THE 70 DEGREE F MARK...IT ADDS UP TO A HAZY, HOT,
HUMID AND UNCOMFORTABLE DAY FOR THE TRI-STATE AREA. CURRENT PACKAGE
LOOKS ON TRACK...THEREFORE DO NOT PLAN AN UPDATE.

MARINE...CURRENT OBSERVATIONS REPORTING SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15
KT...WITH A SEA HEIGHT OF 3 FT. DONT EXPECT TO EVEN APPROACH SCA
CRITERIA.

.OKX...
CT...NONE.
NJ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING 005-006-011-032200
NY...HEAT ADVISORY 072>076-022300
MARINE...NONE.

JK

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Northern New London

When
July 2, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 5:00 PM EST
Where
Northern New London forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
41.504, -72.101 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Southern Fairfield

When
July 2, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 5:00 PM EST
Where
Southern Fairfield forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
41.285, -73.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Southern New Haven

When
July 2, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 5:00 PM EST
Where
Southern New Haven forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
41.443, -72.965 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Northern Fairfield

When
July 2, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 5:00 PM EST
Where
Northern Fairfield forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
41.285, -73.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Northern New Haven

When
July 2, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 5:00 PM EST
Where
Northern New Haven forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
41.443, -72.965 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Northern Middlesex

When
July 2, 12:00 PM EST to July 4, 5:00 PM EST
Where
Northern Middlesex forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
41.451, -72.508 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Heat, Southern Fairfield2002-07-0392MalePermanent HomeDirect

What these are

Heat
Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Connecticut in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Connecticut, July 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: 5310655, 5310656, 5310657, 5311353, 5311354, 5311355.