Funnel Cloud, Miami-Dade
- When
- May 31, 3:45 PM EST to 4:10 PM EST
- Where
- Miami-Dade County, Kendall
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 25.609, -80.499 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Several SKYWARN spotters observed funnel clouds.
Funnel Cloud in Florida, May 31, 2002
1 funnel cloud, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
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.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 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 Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 11:30 AM EST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 31, 11:30 AM EST, 4 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 1230 PM EDT FRI MAY 31 2002 12Z MFL SOUNDING STILL MOIST AND UNSTABLE WITH PW ALMOST 1.7 AND K-INDEX OF 36. CROSS AND VERTICAL TOTALS ADDED TO 48. SURFACE WEAKNESS IN THE PRESSURE FIELD CONTINUES OVER THE PENINSULA... WITH VERY LIGHT SURFACE GRADIENT. THIS WILL MEAN A CONTINUATION OF THE AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES ALONG BOTH COASTS TO SERVE AS A FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR AFTERNOON CONVECTION. ALOFT TROUGH CONTINUES TO DIG SOUTHWARD FROM THE GULF COAST INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO... BUT MODELS DIFFER ON WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THIS SYSTEM. ETA GRADUALLY RETROGRADES THIS SYSTEM TOWARD MEXICO... WHILE AVN (AT LEAST THE 06Z AVN RUN) LEAVES IT STATIONARY ACROSS THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO... WHILE BEGINNING TO BUILD A RIDGE BACK NORTHWARD FROM THE CARIBBEAN ACROSS THE FLORIDA STRAITS AND INTO THE SOUTH PENINSULA. THESE TWO COMPETING SOLUTIONS WOULD LEAD TO SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FORECAST OUTCOMES FOR OUR AREA... BUT FOR RIGHT NOW WOULD TEND TO GO MORE WITH THE 06Z AVN AND LEAVE THE GULF LOW ABOUT STATIONARY (AT LEAST THROUGH SUNDAY). NGM MOS POP NUMBERS ALL LOOK WAY TOO DRY FOR MY TASTE ...ACTUALLY SO DO THE AVN NUMBERS... SO 40-50% DAYTIME POPS AND 20-30% NIGHTTIME SEEM TO BE THE WAY TO GO. LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPERATURES. FOR THE MARINE...BASICALLY LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS WITH A VERY LAX GRADIENT CONTINUING PRPBABLY ON THROUGH THE ENTIRE FORECAST PERIOD. SLIGHT SEAS CONTINUING. FOR THE EXTENDED...MEDIUM RANGE MODEL FINALLY BEGINS TO MOVE THE GULF LOW ACROSS THE PENINSULA TUESDAY... THEN OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC BY WEDNESDAY... REBUILDING THE RIDGE ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN... FLORIDA... AND THE GULF OF MEXICO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. SO LITTLE CHANGE IN THE EXTENDED EXCEPT WILL INDICATE SLIGHTLY LOWER CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION FOR WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. NO FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS. PBI TT 072/089 073/091 073 4535 FLL TT 074/089 074/090 075 4535 MIA TT 074/089 074/091 075 4535 APF BB 072/089 072/089 073 2424 .MIA...NONE.
The radar
The Miami radar (KAMX), 9 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:45 UTC.
Event by event
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, May 31, 2002
- Heat in Missouri, May 31, 2002
- Tornado in New York, May 31, 2002
- Rip Current in North Carolina, May 31, 2002
- Tornadoes and Hail in New York, May 31, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 31, 2002
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in New Hampshire, May 31, 2002
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Maine, May 31, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in California, May 31, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, May 31, 2002
- Hail in Iowa, May 31, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 31, 2002
More
Every storm in Florida in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, 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: 5296449.