1 tornado, 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 Wakefield, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 6, 3:45 PM EST, 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD, VA 345 PM EST SUN JAN 6 2002 TNGT...RADAR TRENDS SUGG PRECIP WL BE OUT OF MUCH OF THE REGION BY THS EVE...SO ONLY KPG CHCS FOR AREAS ARND THE CHES BAY AND LWR MD. LOUISA AND FLUVANNA WL BE OUT OF THE PRECIP THIS EVE...BUT A FEW FLURRIES PSBL THRU THE NGT...WL BE A STRETCH THO AS UPR DEFORMATION ZONE WELL NW OF THE MTNS. CANCELLING WINTER WX ADVSY. SOME CLRG SEEN ON SAT PIX IN WRN CAROLINAS AS DWNSLP FLO SETS UP...BUT GDNC SUGG ONLY A FEW BRKS OVR OUR REGION OVRNGT...AND REMAINING CDY. WTH CLOUD CVR AND NW WNDS INCRSG...TEMPS WL FALL TO JUST BELOW FRZG IN COLDER AREAS...BUT LWR/MID 30S MOST OTHER PLCS. MON...UPR SYSTEM CURRENTLY IN MIDWEST CONTS TO DIG INTO TN VALLEY...AND WL TRACK ACROSS NRN VA TMRW. GDNC SUGG UPR JET SEGMENT TRACKS OFF CAROLINAS TMRW...SO NE NC AND VA WL BE IN LEFT EXIT REGION OF UPR JET. SOME ISEN LFT NOTED AT I290...AND ETA FOUS SUGG SOME UPWD VVEL. SOME TIGHTENING OF H8 THERMAL GRAD SUGG SOME LLVL FRCG AS WELL. DWNSLP NW FLO WL WRK AGNST ANY PTNL UPWD MOTION DUE TO DYNMCS...BUT PUTTING CHC OF SNOWSHOWERS EVERYWHERE TMRW WTH THE H8 FRNTL PASSAGE. SOME SUGG ALSO OF A LTL SFC WV OFF CAROLINAS FEEDING INTO THE DEEPENING SFC LOW OFF NEW ENGLAND. MON NGT...ANY SNOWSHOWERS END EARLY...THEN CLRG AND COOLING. TEMPS GNRLY IN 20S...SOME LWR 30S ORF AREA. TUE...SFC RDG BUILDS IN FROM LWR MS VALLEY...SO DEEP W TO NW FLO CONTS...AND BASED ON H8 TEMPS...SFC TEMPS SHUD GET TO LWR/MID 40S. TUE NGT...CONTD CLR...BUT WTH DEEP FLO TURNING MORE W...AND SFC FLO TURNING TO MORE SW...SO MINS MID/UPR 20S...WTH LWR/MID 30S ORF. WED...H8 TEMPS FCST TO RAPIDLY RISE...AND WTH SUCH MIDLVL WRMG...SUGG PSBLY SOME SHRA LT WED. INCRSG CLOUD CVR...BUT ALSO INCRSG WAA...SO TEMPS UPR 40S TO LWR 50S...BUT WRMR IF MORE SUNSHINE. THU THRU XTND...CHC SHRA WTH NXT SYSTEM...AND COOLING FRI...CONTINUED COOL THRU SUNDAY. FMR/MEX NMBRS LUK TOO WARM...ESPCLY WTH FCST H8 TEMPS ON THE ECMWF. ANTHR NRN STREAM UPR IMPULSE FCST TO SKIRT THRU THE NORTHEAST SATURDAY...BUT TOO FAR N TO AFFECT US...AND GOING DRY WTH PC SKY THRU THE WEEKEND. CSTL WTRS...WNDS WL SHFTG TO NW THRU THE NGT...AND WNDS SOLIDLY INTO SCA...WTH WAVES AND SEAS ALSO INTO SCA RANGE. WL CONT THRU MON...WTH GRDL SLACKENING THRU THE WK. FYI...SOME FZRA AND SLEET OBSERVED ARND RICHMOND AND HANOVER THIS MORNING WTH SOME LGT ACCUM OF ICE BEFORE CHG TO RAIN. PRBLY ALSO OCCURRED IN OTHER AREAS W AND N OF RIC. ALSO...GUST TO 69 KT AT CHESPEAKE LIGHT TOWER AT 324 PM...AS BOWING LINE OF CNVCTN TRACKED THRU. PSBL WATERSPOUT ON SHORE OF SOMERSET COUNTY MD DAMAGED A TRAILER THERE. FCSTID = 7 SBY 35 36 23 40 / 60 30 30 10 OXB 35 36 23 40 / 60 30 30 10 ECG 36 38 28 45 / 20 30 30 10 ORF 36 38 30 45 / 20 30 30 10 PHF 33 37 24 43 / 20 30 30 10 AKQ 33 37 24 43 / 20 30 30 10 RIC 32 35 23 42 / 20 30 10 10 FVX 32 35 23 42 / 20 30 10 10 .AKQ... MD...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FENWICK ISLAND TO CHINCOTEAGUE. NC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY VA/NC BRDR TO CURRITUCK BEACH LIGHT AND CURRITUCK SOUND. VA...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY CHINCOTEAGUE TO VA/NC BRDR AND CHES BAY FROM SMITH PT TO CAPE HENRY. NS
NCZ012-VAZ060>074-079>083-087-088-061530- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA 1025 AM EST SUN JAN 6 2002 ...A BRIEF PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET IS POSSIBLE THROUGH MIDDAY... AREAS FROM SOUTH HILL TO RICHMOND...EMPORIA...PETERSBURG AND WAKEFIELD WILL SEE A BRIEF PERIOD OF FEEZING RAIN AND SLEET THROUGH MIDDAY. TEMPERATURES ARE RIGHT AROUND FREEZING...AND AN AREA OF RAIN IS OVER CENTRAL VIRGINIA...MOVING EAST. AT THE ONSET...THE RAIN MAY FREEZE TO EXPOSED OBJECTS...AND SOME ROADWAYS...ESPECIALLY BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES. BY NOON...ANY SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WILL CHANGE TO ALL RAIN AS SURFACES WARM TO ABOVE FREEZING. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE CAUTION FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS MORNING...AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH DESTINATIONS. NS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A small tornado tracked from Deal Island northeast to Chance in Somerset county. One mobile home was destroyed and another one was moved off its foundation. Also, several sailboats were knocked over and some pine trees were snapped in half.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Maryland in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Maryland, 2002Warnings in Maryland, January 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: 5279307.