1 lightning, 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 New Orleans, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 1:20 PM CST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS/BATON ROUGE LA 220 PM CDT TUE AUG 13 2002 LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS CONTINUE TO SHOW A FRONTAL BOUNDARY FROM THE GREAT LAKES TO NORTHERN MISSOURI TO SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA AND 1021MB HIGH OVER THE CAROLINAS. DEWPOINT READINGS OF 70F AND GREATER WERE OVER MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA AND POOLING ALONG THE FRONT UP TO LAKE MICHIGAN. UPPER AIR ANALYSIS REVEALED A TROUGH ACROSS THE MIDDLE CONUS. SEVERAL VORT MAX WERE NOTED AT THE BASE OF THE TROUGH. THE SOUTHEAST PROGRESS OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND ASSOCIATED VORT MAX/LOBE WILL BE THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM WITH THIS AFTERNOON PACKAGE. A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW OFF THE GULF OF MEXICO IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY. A VORT LOBE WILL SWEEP ACROSS ARKANSAS TONIGHT AND OVER THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TO NORTH LOUISIANA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. MOISTURE FROM THE SURFACE AND ALOFT WILL CONVERGE FROM SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA...TO SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI AND NORTHEASTWARD. THE VORT LOBE IS EXPECTED TO BE LOCATED FROM SOUTHEAST TEXAS TO WEST CENTRAL LOUISIANA TO NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. MODEL SOUNDINGS SUGGEST A SOUTHWEST FLOW FROM THE SURFACE TO 100MB NEAR THE BATON ROUGE AREA. THE COMBINATION OF THESE METEOROLOGICAL FEATURES WILL PRODUCE TRAINING TYPE CONVECTION ACROSS SOUTHWEST...SOUTH CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI WEDNESDAY THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. WIDESPREAD RAIN AMOUNTS BETWEEN ONE AND THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE GENERALLY ACROSS SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. LOCALLY HEAVIER RAIN AMOUNTS BETWEEN THREE AND FIVE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE FROM SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA...TO SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. DUE TO THE LOW RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN THE FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE OVER THE CONCERNED AREA...A FLOOD WATCH MAY BE NECESSARY FOR THE WEST HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA ON TONIGHTS PACKAGE FOR WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SOME UNCERTAINTY EXISTS WITH THE POSITION OF THE VORT LOBE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE VORT LOBE IS EXPECTED TO PULL NORTHEAST AND ALLOW THE MOISTURE AXIS TO PULL NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND POPS OVER THE REGION MAY DROP BACK TO NORMAL OR BELOW FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS TO PONDER... MCB 70/86/70/88 3646 BTR 72/87/72/87 3856 MSY 73/88/73/88 4645 GPT 73/86/74/87 2535 .NEW...NONE. LA...NONE. MS...NONE 18
LAZ034>040-046>050-056>070-MSZ068>071-077-080>082-140930- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 430 PM CDT TUE AUG 13 2002 ...HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI... A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW OFF THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL SWEEP ACROSS ARKANSAS TONIGHT AND OVER THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TO NORTH LOUISIANA WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. MOISTURE FROM THE SURFACE AND ALOFT WILL CONVERGE FROM SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA...TO SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI. THE COMBINATION OF THESE METEOROLOGICAL FEATURES WILL YIELD NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WIDESPREAD RAIN AMOUNTS BETWEEN ONE AND THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE GENERALLY ACROSS SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. LOCALLY HEAVIER RAIN AMOUNTS BETWEEN THREE AND FIVE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE FROM SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA...TO SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. RECENT RAINS HAVE NEARLY SATURATED THE GROUND AND EXCESSIVE RUNOFF CAN BE EXPECTED FROM HEAVY RAINFALL THROUGH THURSDAY. FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE IS BETWEEN 2.5 TO 3 INCHES IN 6 HOURS ACROSS AMITE... COMITE...TICKFAW AND TANGIPAHOA RIVER BASINS. A FLOOD WATCH MAY BE ISSUED TONIGHT FOR SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA...TO SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI FOR WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATIONS FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND A POSSIBLE FLOOD WATCH CONCERNING THIS HEAVY RAIN EVENT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike caused a fire that destroyed a small storage building and its contents.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, August 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: 5316347.