1 hail, 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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 2, 1:38 AM CST, 5 hours 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 238 AM CDT THU MAY 2 2002 RECENTLY ISSUED REGULAR MORNING ZONE PACKAGE/CCF/RDF...IN LIEU OF TEMPORARY ZONE UPDATE TO DROP TORNADO WATCH THROUGH 4 AM. ALTHOUGH WX GRAPHICS FOR WEB WILL SHOW MAINLY SHOWERS TODAY...I ADJUSTED THE IFPS MATRICES FOR THE REVISED DIGITAL FORECAST TO HANDLE ANY POST-FRONTAL THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH AT LEAST 9 AM. POTENTIAL MID-LEVEL CAPPING AND LIMITING CONVERGENCE AHEAD OF COLD FRONT SEEMED TO BE SLOWING SIGNIFICANT THUNDERSTORM/SEVERE WEATHER DEVELOPMENT OVERNIGHT. I CANNOT RULE OUT THAT ANY SIGNIFICANT CONVECTION WILL TAKE PLACE THROUGH DAYBREAK...BUT LEANED ZONES TO GENERAL NON-SEVERE TSRA CONVECTION THROUGH MID-MORNING. GENERALLY KEPT DAYSHIFT FORECASTERS PACKAGE INTACT...BUT ADJUSTED MENTION OF SHOWERS THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR SOUTHERN 1/2 OF CWA. AVN/MESOETA SEEM TO HANG UP FRONTAL BOUNDARY ALONG MO/AR AND KY/TN BORDER...SO ANY LIFT ACROSS FRONT THROUGH 15Z-18Z MAY PRODUCE THUNDER...WITH SHOWERS POSSIBLE IN THE AFTERNOON. NGM/AVN MOS A LITTLE DIVERGENT WITH MAXES ALONG AND BEHIND FRONT TODAY. I DECIDED TO USE ETA MAX/MIN TEMPS FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS...WHICH IS A ROUGH COMPROMISE BETWEEN NGM AND AVN MOS. MADE NO CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED PACKAGE...EXCEPT MINOR TWEEKS TO MAX/MIN TEMPS. .PAH...NONE. SMITH
ILZ075>078-080>090-092>094-MOZ076-086-087-100-107>112-114-021200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 527 AM CDT THU MAY 2 2002 ...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL POSSIBLE OVER PARTS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS THROUGH 700 AM... ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL...WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH 700 AM...OVER PARTS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND INTO SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH A PAST HISTORY OF PRODUCING DIME OR NICKEL SIZE HAIL OCCURRED ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL MISSOURI OVERNIGHT. THE STORMS WILL LIKELY MOVE NEAR A PERRYVILLE TO VAN BUREN MISSOURI LINE AROUND 630 AM...REACHING NEAR A DONIPHAN TO JACKSON MISSOURI LINE BY 7 AM. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS FROM GRAND TOWER TO CARMI THROUGH 7 AM. && SMITH
ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-021707- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 621 AM CDT THU MAY 2 2002 ...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA... THREATS... THERE IS A THREAT OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING...SOME WITH THE POTENTIAL OF LARGER THAN DIME SIZE HAIL AND LOCAL WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. DISCUSSION... A SURFACE COLD FRONT HAS ALL...BUT COMPLETELY MOVED EAST OF THE OUTLOOK AREA THIS MORNING. HOWEVER...SOUTHWEST WINDS ABOVE 2000 FEET FROM THE GROUND CONTINUE TO PULL MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR ACROSS THE SURFACE FRONT. THIS MOIST AIR...COMBINED WITH COLDER TEMPERATURES ALOFT...WILL PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR HAIL UP TO DIME SIZE OR LARGER. WHERE SURFACE WINDS INTERACT WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS...THERE MAY ALSO BE THE POTENTIAL FOR THUNDERSTORM GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD REMAIN ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LITHIUM MISSOURI...PINCKNEYVILLE...CARMI ILLINOIS...ONWARD TO EVANSVILLE AND SANTA CLAUS INDIANA. THESE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD GRADUALLY MOVE SOUTH THROUGH THE MORNING AS THE SURFACE COLD FRONT CONTINUES TO SAG INTO CENTRAL KENTUCKY AND WEST TENNESSEE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME...BUT SPOTTERS SHOULD KEEP POSTED TO THE LATEST WEATHER DEVELOPMENTS THIS MORNING. && SMITH
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
656 AM CDT THU MAY 02 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
622 AM DESOTO IL 2.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 JACKSON REPORTED BY JACKSON
COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE
EMPLOYEE.
0627 AM GRAND TOWER IL 1.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 JACKSON REPORTED BY TRAINED
SPOTTER.
0637 AM CARBONDALE IL 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 JACKSON HAIL REPORTED 5 MILES
SOUTH OF CARBONDALE.
REPORTED BY TRAINED
SPOTTER.
0645 AM VAN BUREN MO 1.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 CARTER REPORTED BY TRAINED
SPOTTER
0645 AM JOHNSON CITY IL 1.25 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 WILLIAMSON REPORTED BY TRAINED
SPOTTER
0658 AM NEW BURNSIDE IL 1.25 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 JOHNSON REPORTED BY JOHNSON
COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICEPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
708 AM CDT THU MAY 02 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0602 AM MARION IL 2.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 WILLIAMSON REPORTED RELAYED BY PERRY
COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.
0602 AM CREAL SPRINGS IL 2.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 WILLIAMSON REPORTED RELAYED BY PERRY
COUNTY IL SHERIFFS
OFFICE.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
708 AM CDT THU MAY 02 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0702 AM MARION IL 2.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 WILLIAMSON REPORTED RELAYED BY PERRY
COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.
(EVENT TIME CORRECTED).
0702 AM CREAL SPRINGS IL 2.00 INCH HAIL
05/02/02 WILLIAMSON REPORTED RELAYED BY PERRY
COUNTY IL SHERIFFS
OFFICE.
(EVENT TIME CORRECTED).The Paducah radar (KPAH), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:14 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A severe thunderstorm moved east across the Mississippi River from Missouri, produced quarter size hail over Cairo, then crossed the Ohio River into Ballard County, Kentucky.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, 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: 5295401.