1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 11:30 AM EST, 6 hours 25 minutes earlier.
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 Melbourne radar (KMLB), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:55 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A brief tornado touchdown was observed by witnesses. The tornado did minor damage to roofs and screened porches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2002Warnings in Florida, 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: 5296452.