1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 7, 1:45 PM EST, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY 245 PM EDT TUE MAY 7 2002 COMPLICATED FCST NEXT CPL DAYS AS LOW-LVL BNDRIES INTERACTING WITH WARM MOIST AIR MASS WL MAKE TIMING AND AREAL COVERAGE OF CNVCTN SOMEWHAT TENUOUS. HOWEVER...OVERALL PTRN AS SHOWN BY MODELS SUGGESTS AT LEAST SCT TSTMS OVRNGT/WED MRNG AND AGN THURS...DETAILS BELOW. CURRENTLY...OUTFLOW BNDRY LIES ACRS NW TN EWD INTO SERN KY WITH LINE OF TSTMS ALG ERN PORTION OF BNDRY. THIS BNDRY IS SERVING AS AN EFFECTIVE WARM FNT WITH TROPICAL BUT CAPPED AIR MASS TO ITS SOUTH AND RELATIVELY COOLER AIR UNDER THE CLDS OVR MUCH OF KY. A FEW OTHER TSTMS ARE DVLPG IN CNTRL KY JUST N OF BNDRY AT THIS TIME. EXPECT A FEW TSTMS THIS EVNG BFR EXITING EWD...THEN MODELS SUGGEST BNDRY/WARM FNT WL LIFT SLOWLY NEWD ON ITS WRN END OVRNGT AS UPR LVL FLOW BEGINS BACKING. MODELS ALSO SUGGEST MODEST LO-LVL WARM ADVCTN WL OCR ALG WITH LOW-LVL MSTR FLUX CNVRGNC ALG BNDRY. AS A RESULT...SCT SHWRS/ TSTMS SHLD INCRS IN COVERAGE OVRNGT/WED MRNG ACRS CNTRL KY THEN PUSH NEWD DURING MRNG/EARLY AFTN. HWVR...MORE SIGNIF MCS AND HVY RAINFALL POTNL SHLD OCR WELL TO OUR N AND W TNGT IN MO (AFTER CURRENT DIURNAL TSTMS ALG MO OUTFLOW BNDRY SLOWLY WKN). MCS SHLD THEN MOVE MORE EWD/ENEWD DUE TO ADVECTIVE PROPAGATION COMPONENT. THIS WOULD KEEP HEAVIEST RAIN N OF FCST AREA...BUT COULD CLIP NRN TIER OF OUR S-CNTRL IN CNTIES BY MRNG. THUS...WL NOT EXTEND/ISSUE FLOOD WATCH AT THIS TIME ACRS AREA. BY WED AFTN...WRM FNT SHLD MOV NEWD RESULTING IN WARM HUMID AIR MASS ACRS FCST AREA. WL LEAVE A MENTION OF TSTMS IN AFTN IN NRN AREAS IN CASE ANY OUTFLOW BNDRIES ARE PRODUCED FM MRNG RAINFALL. HWVR...AT LEAST S-CNTRL KY SHLD BECOME CAPPED (REF ETA HIGH VALUES OF CNVCTV INHIBITION) IN AFTN...THUS NO MENTION OF TSTMS IN THIS AREA. RIGHT OR WRONG...MESOETA SUGGESTS LINE OF TSTMS DVLPG TO OUR NW WED NGT THEN MOVING SEWD INTO NCNTRL KY THURS MRNG AHD OF SYNOPTIC CDFNT...WITH ADDTNL SHWRS/TSTMS PSBL THURS AFTN ALG ACTUAL FNT AS INTIAL LINE MOVES ACRS REST OF CNTRL KY. TOUGH TO VALIDATE THIS SCENERIO AT THIS TIME...COULD HAPPEN THOUGH. FOR NOW...A GENERIC SHWRS/TSTMS LIKELY APRS BEST OPTION ACRS ENTIRE AREA. PRECIP SHLD MOV OUT OF FCST AREA BY THURS NGT SETTING UP NICE DAY FRI. HWVR...THIS WL BE SHORT-LIVED AS FLOW SLOWLY BACKS AGN ALLOWING MSTR RETURN SAT OR SAT NGT. FOR NOW...HV LEFT DRY FCST SAT BUT ADDED PRECIP SAT NGT. THIS WL NEED TO BE MONITORED. AVN IS FASTEST WITH FNT ON THURS... THUS MAVS LOWER HIGH TEMPS THAN FWC. AVN SEEMS A BIT FAST...BUT CLDS/PRECIP MAY KEEP VALUES LWR THAN FWC NUMBERS. OTHERWISE...GUIDANCE TEMPS REASONABLE. .SDF...NONE. FUNK
The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:15 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water covered Old Danville Road west of Lancaster in several locations.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kentucky in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, 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: 5300029.