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 Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 3, 2:25 AM EST, 1 hour 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL 225 AM EST SAT MAR 2 2002 SYNOPSIS: LATEST 500MB RUC/GOES WV IMAGERY COMPOSITE SHOWS SHORTWAVE W/ ASSOCIATED VORT MAX MOVING EWD ALONG NRN GULF. AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE, NUMEROUS SHWRS/TSTMS DEVELOPING & MOVING NEWD ACROSS ERN FL PNHDL/FL BIG BEND/SRN GA. A FEW OF THE STORMS HAVE BEEN STRONG, ESPECIALLY OVER THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS. RADAR SHOWS ECHO TRAINING ALONG A PFN-TLH-VLD LINE W/ URBAN/SMALL STREAM ADVISORY WHERE 2-4 INCHES HAVE FALLEN SINCE SAT MORNING. 06Z MSAS HAS COLD FRONT FROM ERN KY TO LOW PRESSURE JUST S OF DESTIN TO CNTRL GULF. WINDS WERE S-SWLY AROUND 10 KTS, BUT VRBL & GUSTY INVOF TSTMS. TEMPS WERE MILD W/ READINGS IN THE 60S. MODELS/PUBLIC FCST: 00Z MODELS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT W/ CONTINUED EWD PROGRESSION OF LONGWAVE TROUGH FROM CNTRL U.S. TO ATLANTIC COAST MON NIGHT. RIDGE OVER WRN U.S. GRADUALLY FLATTENS AS IT MOVES E PATTERN ALOFT BECOMING MORE ZONAL TUE. THE COLD FRONT IS PROGGED BY ALL MODELS TO PUSH E ACROSS THE CWFA TODAY & INTO S FL MON W/ BULK OF LIFT/MOISTURE CONVERGENCE EXITING OUR ERN ZONES THIS EVENING PER AVN. THE ETA, HOWEVER, DEVELOPS A BULLSEYE OF LIFT/MOISTURE CONVERGENCE OVER THE CWFA THIS EVENING & RAPIDLY MOVES NE TO CAROLINA COAST BY 06Z. NGM SHOWS SIMILAR PATTERN BUT NOT AS STRONG AT ETA. HAVE DISCARDED BOTH SCENARIOS & USE AVNS OPTIMISTIC FCST OF ENDING PCPN FROM W TO E THIS AFTN/EVE. BASED ON RADAR TRENDS, WILL GRADUATE POPS W/ LOWEST NW TO HIGHEST E/SE TODAY. AVN MOS SHOWS LOW CHANCE (30) POPS THIS EVE FOR CTY/40J & SLIGHT CHANCE FOR TLH/AAF/VLD. TODAYS TEMPS RISE LITTLE AHEAD OF FRONT, W/ STEADY TO SLOWLY FALLING AFTER FROPA. MUCH COLDER TONIGHT W/ CLOUDS DECREASING FROM W TO E. NEAR FREEZING TEMPS FOR DHN/ABY AREAS, W/ 35-40 ELSEWHERE. MUCH DRIER AIR FILTERS INTO CWFA MON AFTN. W/ STRONG CAA, TEMPS WILL STRUGGLE TO RISE ABOVE 50. CENTER OF RIDGE JUST W OF CWFA MON NIGHT. EXCELLENT RADIATIONAL COOLING W/ HARD FREEZE EXPECTED, EXCEPT NEAR THE COAST. TEMPS ABOUT 8-10 DEGREES WARMER TUE. EXTENDED (WED-SAT): WILL GLANCE AT 00Z AVN/MRF, BUT DONT EXPECT ANY SIG CHANGES ATTM. MARINE: NO CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS. WINDS/SEAS MEETING ADVISORY CRITERIA NOW WILL PERSIST INTO TUE MORNING BEFORE SUBSIDING AS HIGH PRESSURE DRIFTS EWD OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. FIRE WEATHER: NO CONCERNS TODAY DUE TO SATURATED GROUNDS. MUCH DRIER AIRMASS W/ DEWPTS DROPPING INTO THE UPPER SINGLE DIGITS & TEENS MON AFTN ALONG W/ 20-FT WINDS AOA 15 MPH. WILL ISSUE WATCH ALL ZONES FOR MON, BUT LATER SHIFTS WILL LIKELY UPGRADE TO A WARNING. PRELIM NUMBERS: TLH 064/035 050/021 7200 PFN 063/037 049/027 5100 DHN 058/030 047/023 3-00 ABY 060/032 047/023 5100 VLD 065/037 049/023 9200 .TLH... .AL...NONE. .GA...NONE. .FL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ750-755-770-775. NOTE: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS MOVED TO ITS NEW LOCATION ON THE CAMPUS OF FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY. ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL IN TALLAHASSEE CAN BE REACHED DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS AT 850-942-8833. MAJ
The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 8 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:11 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning sparked a fire that severely damaged a house. Reported by the Tallahassee Democrat.
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, March 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: 5285637.