1 thunderstorm wind, 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 Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 21, 1:33 PM EST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.
EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 200 PM EDT MON OCT 21 2002 FEW SHOWERS/STORMS HAVE DEVELOPED DURING PAST HOUR AHEAD OF BOUNDARY SAGGING SOUTH ACROSS EXTREME NORTHERN CWA AND NEAR SE COAST IN ASSOCIATION WITH SOME COASTAL CONVERGENCE. EXPECT CONTINUED SMALL COVERAGE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED STORMS INTO THE EARLY EVENING. PLAN TO OMIT 1ST PERIOD POPS OVER THE NORTH CWA...BUT LEAVE IN 20 PERCENT OVER THE SOUTH FOR LINGERING EVENING ACTIVITY. BOUNDARY LAYER W/SW FLOW AND CALM SURFACE WINDS SHOULD LEAD TO FOG OVER N/C CWA OVERNIGHT...BUT NOT LOW ENOUGH VISIBILITIES FOR MENTION WITHIN ZFP. VERTICAL MOISTURE PROFILES WILL REMAIN HIGH NEXT SEVERAL DAYS AS FRONTAL BOUNDARY SLOWS TO THE NORTH AND GRADUALLY LOSES IDENTITY. ALTHOUGH SHALLOW BOUNDARY MAY REACH CWA TUESDAY BEFORE STALLING/DISSIPATING WEDNESDAY...THERMAL CONTRAST WILL BECOME NEGLIGIBLE AND NE FLOW WILL BRIDGE THE FEATURE BY WEDNESDAY AS PIECE OF SPRAWLING CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE BUILDS E/SE OFF SE COAST. WITH WEAK PRESSURE GRADIENT...LAKE/BREEZE BOUNDARIES WILL FORM TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY...HOWEVER SMALL WATER/AIR TEMP DIFFERENTIAL SHOULD LIMIT SIGNIFICANT COVERGENCE/LIFT. WILL INDICATE SMALL DIURNAL POPS NEXT 2 DAYS OVER THE SOUTH WHERE MOISTURE AND MESOSCALE CONVERGENCE SHOULD BE THE GREATEST. MAX TEMPS WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL TUE DUE TO WEAK OFFSHORE GRADIENT FLOW. WED/THU...DEVELOPING ONSHORE FLOW WILL MODERATE MAX TEMPS...BUT ELEVATE MINS ALONG ATLANTIC COAST. SMALL COASTAL SHOWER COVERAGE WILL BE RETAINED. AS NEXT FRONT REACHES THE SE U.S. LATE IN THE WEEK...HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE WILL DROP SOUTH OF CENTRAL FLORIDA AND WINDS WILL GRADUALLY VEER TO SW/W FRI/SAT. ALSO APPEARS THIS FRONT WILL WEAKEN/SLOW N OF CWA...WITH POSSIBILITY OF SHALLOW BOUNDARY/MOISTURE BAND SETTLING INTO CWA SAT/SUN....LIFTING BACK NORTHWARD MONDAY AS NEXT SYSTEM TAKES SHAPE OVER MID MS VALLEY. EXPECT LITTLE TEMP CHANGE THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH MAXS/MINS REMAINING ABOVE CLIMO. WILL NOT YET COMMIT TO PRECIP DAYS 5-7 AS UPPER PATTERN CONTINUES TO INDICATE TROUGHING OVER WESTERN U.S. AND HINTS YET AGAIN AT POSSIBILITY OF FRONT AND ASSOCIATED CLOUDS/PRECIP STALLING NORTH OF CWA. DAB BB 067/086 068/082 069 65111 MCO BB 069/088 069/086 068 6511- MLB BB 070/088 070/084 071 65211 .MLB...NONE. PUBLIC/MARINE...SPRATT AVIATION/FIRE WX...WIMMER
AMZ550-555-570-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-144-147- 212000- EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1118 AM EDT MON OCT 21 2002 .DAY ONE... ...CHANCE FOR AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS... SUFFICIENT MOISTURE OVER THE FLORIDA PENINSULA AND AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHING FROM THE WEST WILL RESULT IN A CHANCE FOR AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL INITIALLY FORM AHEAD OF A WEAK BOUNDARY WHICH WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL FLORIDA FROM THE NORTH. A FEW STORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE IN THE VICINITY OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE LATE THIS AFTERNOON. WHILE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO PRODUCE FREQUENT LIGHTNING...RESIDENTS ARE REMINDED THAT ALL THUNDERSTORMS ARE POTENTIAL KILLERS REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH LIGHTNING THEY PRODUCE. MOVE INDOORS IF LIGHTNING IS SEEN OR IF THUNDER IS HEARD...AND REMAIN INDOORS UNTIL 30 MINUTES PAST THE LAST RUMBLE OF THUNDER. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE REQUIRED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SEAS WILL BEGIN TO BUILD WEDNESDAY AS WINDS BECOME NORTHEAST... REACHING 3 TO 5 FEET MAINLY IN A NORTHEAST SWELL THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. COMBINED SEAS WILL BE EVEN HIGHER IN THE GULF STREAM AS WINDS OPPOSE THE OCEAN CURRENT. THE THREAT FOR RIP CURRENTS WILL ALSO BECOME GREATER THAN NORMAL LATER THIS WEEK AS WINDS BECOME ONSHORE AND SWELLS BEGIN TO IMPACT THE BEACHES. TO VIEW THE GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS PRODUCT...GO TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV...AND CLICK ON EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA. SPRATT
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
700 PM EDT MON OCT 21 2002
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
838 PM PORT CANAVERAL FL 47 MPH WIND GUST
10/21/02 BREVARD US COAST GUARD STATION
REPORTED WIND GUST TO 41
KNOTS (47 MPH).PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECT TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
700 PM EDT MON OCT 21 2002
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
638 PM PORT CANAVERAL FL 47 MPH WIND GUST
10/21/02 BREVARD US COAST GUARD STATION
REPORTED WIND GUST TO 41
KNOTS (47 MPH).PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
703 PM EDT MON OCT 21 2002
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
658 PM MERRITT ISLAND FL WIND DAMAGE
10/21/02 BREVARD HAM RADIO OPERATOR
REPORTED A LARGE TREE
DOWN ON ANGEL AVE AND
SOUTH BANANA DRIVE.The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:03 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds blew down a tree in Merritt Island. An amateur radio operator also measured a gust to 80 mph on a home weather station.
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, October 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: 5323755.