Name: Hail in Mississippi, May 2, 2002
Start: 2002-05-02T17:45
End: 2002-05-02T19:15
Location: Mississippi

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: $2,000
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 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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 2, 2:43 PM CST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 2:43 PM CST, 3 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
343 PM CDT THU MAY 2 2002

SFC ANALYSIS THIS AFTERNOON PLACED THE CDFNT FROM MID TN SWWD THRU
NRN MS INTO SW AR WITH AN AREA OF LO PRES INVOF SHV. TEMPS WERE
PRIMARILY IN THE 50S NORTH OF THE BNDRY WERE AND LWR 80S ACROSS SE
SXNS OF THE FA. LATEST IR SAT LOOP WITH LIGHTNING PLOT INDICATED
THE MAIN AREA OF TSTM ACTIVITY WAS ACROSS WRN/MID TN UP INTO ERN KY.
LOCAL 88D RADAR LOOP WAS SHOWING SOME SCATTERED TSTMS DEVELOPING OVR
SRN SXNS OF WRN TN AND NRN MS. THE LATEST SVR TSTMS WATCH INCLUDED
ALL OF NRN MS AND THE SRN COUNTIES OF WRN TN.

AS THE CDFNT SAGS SWD TONITE IT WILL BECOME STATIONARY SOUTH OF THE
FA AND ACT AS A FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR TSTMS ACTIVITY TONITE INTO
TMRW. AS THE NEXT 5H SW APPROACHES FROM THE SW IN SWLY FLOW ALOFT...
THE NEXT GOOD CHC FOR PRECIP WILL COME FRI NITE TO THE FA. A SFC
WAVE WILL MOVE ALONG THE FNTL BNDRY FRI NITE WITH WEAK HI PRES
BUILDING IN ON SAT. THE STALLED BNDRY TO THE SOUTH WILL RETURN AS
A WMFNT SUN NITE BRINGING ANOTHER CHC FOR PRECIP. MON THRU WED SHUD
BE DRY IN BETWEEN SYSTEMS WITH ANOTHER CHC FOR PRECIP THU AS
ANOTHER FNT APPROACHES FROM THE NW. WILL TAKE A BLEND OF FWC/MAV
TEMPS THIS FCST PD.

.MEG...NONE.

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Panola

When: May 2, 5:45 PM CST to 5:50 PM CST
Where: Panola County, Batesville
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Property damage: $10
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.317, -89.950

Hail, Pontotoc

When: May 2, 6:47 PM CST to 7:05 PM CST
Where: Pontotoc County, Pontotoc
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 34.250, -89.000

Hail, Lee

When: May 2, 7:04 PM CST to 7:15 PM CST
Where: Lee County, 1 mi W of Tupelo
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $110
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.267, -88.733

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Mississippi in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Mississippi, May 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: 5300164, 5300165, 5300166.