Hail and Damaging Wind in Massachusetts, June 2, 2002

Name: Hail and Damaging Wind in Massachusetts, June 2, 2002
Start: 2002-06-02T10:51
End: 2002-06-02T13:15
Location: Massachusetts

June 2, 2002 · NWS BOX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Isolated severe thunderstorms produced dime sized hail in Gardner and Dracut, and downed trees and wires in Swampscott.

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: $5,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS BOX wrote it up.

Isolated severe thunderstorms produced dime sized hail in Gardner and Dracut, and downed trees and wires in Swampscott.

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 Boston/Norton, MA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 2, 2:34 AM EST, 8 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 2, 2:34 AM EST, 8 hours 17 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
334 AM EDT SUN JUN 2 2002

SFC TROF/CDFNT ACRS NY STATE WL MOV ACRS NEW ENGLAND THIS MRNG.
FAIRLY SGFNT RPDLY MOVG OMEGA MAX ON AVN WL HAVE MOVE MOSTLY OFSHR BY
12Z.  IT APPRS THAT NRN CT WL BE JUST ON THE SRN FRINGE OF THE SHWR
AREA.  EXPC SOME RAIN DURG FIRST PART OF UPCOMING FCST PD OVR THE
NRN ZONES.  THEN TROF WL BE OFSHR IN AFTN AND EXPC SFC WND TO BCM
NWLY AND ON GUSTY SIDE AS CAA STARTS.

THEN UPR NWLY FLO WL PREVAIL TIL ABT 12Z TUE AND WITH COOL SFC HI
CNTR APCHG FM NW WX SHUD BE MOSTLY CLR AND COOLER.  DRIER WX WITH
FALLING DEW PTS SHUD ALLOW NGT TIME TEMPS TO RCH THE UPR 30S OVR
PARTS OF WRN MA INTO SW NH TNGT AND PSBLY MON NGT AS WELL.

THEN TUE WARMER AIR TO W WL OVERRUN THE CO0L AMS ACRS SNE AND BY
LATE TUE SUFFICIENT OMEGA WL BE GENERATRED AS THE WARM FNT APCHS
THAT PRBLY WL BE AREAS RAIN OR SHWRS WHICH SHUD EXTD INTO WED.  AVN
MODEL INDICATES THAT THE FNTL TROF WL STALL JUST ABT ACRS THE FCST
AREA WHICH SUGGESTS A PROLONGED PD OF OVC AND OCNL RAIN EXTDG TIL
THE END OF THE WEEK.

.BOX...
CT...NONE.
MA...NONE.
NH...NONE.
RI...NONE.
MARINE...SCA ALL WATERS EXCEPT ANZ255.

dmh

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Worcester

When: June 2, 10:51 AM EST
Where: Worcester County, Gardner
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 42.567, -71.983

Hail, Middlesex

When: June 2, 12:38 PM EST
Where: Middlesex County, Dracut
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.667, -71.300

Thunderstorm Wind, Essex

When: June 2, 1:15 PM EST
Where: Essex County, Swampscott
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.467, -70.900

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Massachusetts in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Massachusetts, June 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: 5297150, 5297151, 5297152.