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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 23, 8:45 PM CST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 845 PM CST MON DEC 23 2002 ZONES UPDATED TO REFLECT CURRENT WATCH. A LITTLE JUGGLING WITH GROUPINGS...WITH REMOVAL OF TOWARDS MORNING WORDING BALDWIN/MOBILE GROUPING. 16/MILLER ********************* PREVIOUS ******************* FORECAST STILL APPEARS ON TRACK...WITH WIDESPREAD RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS NOW MOVING INTO OUR WESTERN ZONES AHEAD OF FIRST SHORTWAVE KICKING OUT. FIRST BATCH OF ACTIVITY SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THIS EVENING...AS COMPLEX OF STRONGER STORMS GETS GOING OVER TEXAS AND LOUISIANA. EXPECT MAIN SLUG OF STRONGER STORMS TO MOVE INTO OUR SOUTHWESTERN ZONES AFTER MIDNIGHT AND TOWARD MORNING (AROUND 4 AM)...THEN SLOWLY PROGRESS EAST ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. AS FOR SEVERE WEATHER...MAIN THREAT STILL APPEARS TO BE BOWS AND LEWPS IN SQUALL LINE ACTIVITY DURING THE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. ISOLATED LOW TOP SUPERCELLS DURING THE EARLY MORNING ARE POSSIBLE AHEAD OF THE MAIN SQUALL LINE. MEDIA...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND STORM SPOTTER OFFICIALS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS SOMETIME AROUND 4 AM WEST OF I-65...EAST OF I-65 BY AROUND 9 AM. TIMING COULD STILL BE OFF A BIT...SO STAY TUNED FOR THE LATEST. WE UPDATED THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON. THE FRONT SHOULD CLEAR THINGS OUT TO THE EAST IN THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. GRADUAL CLEARING IS EXPECTED FROM THE WEST THROUGH CHRISTMAS MORNING. WILL COOL IT DOWN BEHIND THE FRONT THURSDAY WITH MID 20S WELL INLAND. THE GFS IS STILL WANTING TO DRAG A SHORTWAVE ACROSS THE COLD DOME LATE THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY. DEPTH OF MOISTURE AND LIFT SUGGESTS MAINLY PERIODS OF BROKEN CLOUD COVER FOR OUR AREA FRIDAY...WITH NO PRECIP. WE WILL CLEAR THINGS OUT FOR THE WEEKEND. AS SURFACE HIGH SLIDES EAST SATURDAY...A GRADUAL WARMUP IS EXPECTED ON INTO SUNDAY...THEN ANOTHER WEAK SYSTEM APPROACHES/COMES ACROSS MONDAY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. 05/GARMON PRELIMINARY CCF NUMBERS... MOB TU 063/068 040/053 031 05++10 PNS TU 063/070 043/054 033 05++30 DTS TU 062/070 044/054 033 05++40 GZH TU 058/070 040/050 028 05++30 2R0 TU 056/066 035/048 027 05++10 61A TU 056/065 038/047 025 05++20 MOB... AL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ630-650-670. FL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ655-675. MS...NONE.
ALZ051>064-FLZ001>006-MSZ067-075-076-078-079-240300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 150 PM CST MON DEC 23 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI... SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...AND THE WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE UP FROM SOUTHERN LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON AND SPREAD NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE EVENING. INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND INSTABILITIES BEHIND A NORTHWARD MOVING WARM FRONT COULD RESULT IN A FEW STRONG STORMS TONIGHT...HOWEVER WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER OVERNIGHT IS EXPECTED TO BE WEST OF THE REGION...MAINLY FOCUSED ALONG AND AHEAD OF A STRONG COLD FRONT THAT PUSHES INTO SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA SOMETIME EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...STORM SPOTTERS AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE REQUIRED THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY TUESDAY...A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH OUT OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND INTO SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL PUSH INTO SOUTHWEST ALABAMA BY LATE TUESDAY MORNING...THEN ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL ALABAMA AND THE WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE DURING THE AFTERNOON. THE LIKELIHOOD OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE GREATER WITH THE STORMS THAT MOVE INTO THE REGION TUESDAY MORNING...MAINLY WEST OF THE I-65 CORRIDOR. THE MAIN WEATHER THREAT WILL BE ISOLATED TORNADOES OUT AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING SQUALL LINE...THEN DAMAGING WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH BOWING STORMS EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LINE OF STORMS. THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...STORM SPOTTERS AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS MAY BE REQUIRED BEGINNING EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...THE COLD FRONT AND ASSOCIATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL PUSH WELL EAST OF THE REGION BY EARLY TUESDAY EVENING. DRIER AND COOLER CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL CHRISTMAS DAY AND CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND AS A REINFORCING SHOT OF COLD AIR ARRIVES SOMETIME LATE ON FRIDAY.
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:28 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak tornado briefly touched down south of Avera. Several trees were blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Mississippi, 2002Warnings in Mississippi, December 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: 5326851.