1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 1:30 PM CST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 230 PM CDT THU JUL 4 2002 AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DROPPING SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON LOOKS SIMILIAR TO WEDNESDAYS RADAR. THESE ALSO SHOULD DIE OUT DURING THE EARLY EVENING. WILL NEED TO HAVE HIGHER EVENING POPS OVER MOST ZONES. UPPER LOW THAT WAS FORECAST TO DRIFT WEST ACROSS AREA HAS BEEN WEAKEND TO A MID LEVEL TROUGH WITH AN ASSOCIATED WEAK SURFACE LOW/TROUGH TRACKING ACROSS AREA THROUGH FIRST HALF OF WEEKEND. BY SUNDAY...SURFACE RIDGE DEVELOPS ACROSS FORECAST REGION FROM THE EAST AND WE RETURN TO A EASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW AND A NORTHWEST MID/UPPER LEVEL FLOW AROUND H5 HIGH OVER CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS PATTERN CONTINUES FROM EARLY NEXT WEEK THROUGH MOST OF WEEK...WITH INSTABILITIES AND MOISTURE REMAINING SUFFICIENT FOR THE CONTINUATION OF SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD. MARINE...HIGH PRESSURE OVER AREA WILL RESULT IN VARIABLE FLOW OVER MARINE ZONES INTO FRIDAY...WITH NEAR SHORE AREAS SEEING GULF BREEZE WINDS EACH DAY. SURFACE TROUGH WILL DEVELOP OVER SOUTHEASTERN CONUS FRIDAY...WITH SOUTHERLY FLOW BECOMING ESTABLISHED INTO MONDAY...WITH SOUTHERLY FLOW BECOMING VARIABLE THEREAFTER AS HIGH PRESSURE BECOME RE-ESTABLISHED. FIRE...NO PROBLEMS INTO FRIDAY NOTED. ETA OVERDOING WARM TEMPS/DRY AIR PUSH INTO AREA(SFC TEMPS >100F IN SOME AREAS)...THUS THREATENING TO PUSH RH VALUES INTO FIRE WX WATCH CRITERIA INLAND SECTIONS OF FL FOR SATURDAY. AM NOT BUYING IT AT THIS TIME. /11/16 PRELIM NUMBERS... MOB TB 072/091 073/092 074 11553 PNS TB 073/091 074/092 075 11453 DTS TB 074/088 075/089 076 11453 GZH BB 071/091 071/093 072 11332 2RO BB 071/091 071/093 072 11332 61A BB 071/091 071/093 072 11332 .MOB... AL...NONE. FL...NONE. MS...NONE.
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:30 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the roof of a church and started a fire. The fire burned for six hours before being put out. There was considerable damage to a roof over a sanctuary and smoke damaged most of the church. No one was in the building near where the strike occurred.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, July 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: 5311081.