Name: Hail in Indiana, May 28, 2002
Start: 2002-05-28T17:00
End: 2002-05-28T17:40
Location: Indiana

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 28, 1:02 PM EST, 3 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 1:02 PM EST, 3 hours 58 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
102 PM EST TUE MAY 28 2002

MOIST...UNSTABLE AIRMASS TO REMAIN IN PLACE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.
FRONTAL BOUNDARY CURRENTLY LOCATED FROM NORTHERN MISSOURI INTO
CNTRL IL TO CNTRL IN. CONVECTION CONTINUES TO FIRE ALONG AND NORTH
OF THIS BOUNDARY.

NONE OF THE MODELS ARE HANDLING AREAS OF CONVECTION VERY WELL
ASSOCIATED WITH NUMEROUS WEAK S/WS MOVING THROUGH THE FLOW.  THEY
DO HOWEVER AGREE ON BOUNDARY MOVING SLOWLY NORTH TODAY AND TONIGHT
INTO LOWER MI. LOOKS LIKE TONIGHT COULD BE DRY ACROSS THE CWA...BUT
WITH PROXIMITY OF THE BOUNDARY...SEVERAL OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES AND AND
WEAK S/WS TO CONTINUE SEE NO REASON TO DROP POPS. AM CONCERNED
ABOUT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. THE CONVECTION THAT LEFT THE SE PART
OF THE CWA THIS MORNING DROPPED 1 TO 3 INCHES IN MANY AREAS.
STEERING WINDS WILL GENERALLY BE 10 TO 15 KTS...HINTING AT LOCAL
FLOODING PROBLEMS AND MAYBE SOME TRAINING OF STORMS AS WEAK FLOW
CONTINUES AND PRECIP WATER INCREASES TO 1.5 OR GREATER. WILL MAKE
MENTION OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN FOR TNGT AND WEDS. HEAVY RAIN THREAT
WILL CONTINUE FOR WEDS NGT AND THURSDAY...BUT MID LVL WINDS DO PICK
UP SLIGHTLY TO REDUCE THE THREAT SOMEWHAT. AVN HAS BEEN SHOWING GOOD
RUN-RUN CONSISTENCY WITH FROPA FRI MRNG. TIMING OF FRONT WILL BE
CRITICAL TO PCPN COVERAGE...WITH DECENT OMEGA AND INSTABILITY SETTING
UP ALONG THE FRONT FRI AFTN. H85 FRONT LOOKS TO MOVE THROUGH FIRST
BETWEEN 12 AND 18Z...WITH SFC FRONT ON ITS HEELS. WILL KEEP 40 POPS
GOING FRI BUT BUMP UP TO 50 POPS THURS NGT. MAIN THREAT AFTER
MIDNIGHT...BUT WONT GET FANCY TIMING THINGS THAT FAR OUT.

EXTENDED FORECAST...
SOME DIFFERENCES IN THIS RUN FOR SUNDAY. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS AGREE
ON HIGH OVER AREA FOR SAT BUT NOW MRF BRINGING WARM FRONT ACRS FA
SUNDAY. 12Z AVN DEVELOPS RATHER STRONG S/W SAT NIGHT AND MOVES IT
INTO AREA SUNDAY MORNING. NOT READY TO JUMP ON THIS FEATURE YET AS
IT LOOKS TOO STRONG AND WELL EAST OF SFC LOW AND LOW LEVEL
FLOW/CONVERGENCE AREA. WL NEED ANOTHER RUN OR TWO BEFORE
INTRODUCING POPS SUNDAY WITH THIS FEATURE. ECMWF STILL SLOWER AND
INDICATES LATE SUNDAY TIME FRAME. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN AIRMASS
DURING EXTENDED...SO NO BIG CHANGES IN TEMPS ATTM. FRONT TO STALL
OUT IN LOWER GREAT LAKES REGION SO CHC POPS INTO TUE.

.IWX...NONE.

FISHER/LASHLEY

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:02 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Wells

When: May 28, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Wells County, Ossian
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.883, -85.167

Hail, Allen

When: May 28, 5:30 PM EST
Where: Allen County, New Haven
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.067, -85.017

Hail, Allen

When: May 28, 5:40 PM EST
Where: Allen County, 5 mi NW of Ft Wayne
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.117, -85.200

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Indiana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, 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: 5290553, 5290554, 5290555.