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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 25, 2:00 PM CST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 300 PM CDT SAT MAY 25 2002 A COLD FRONT OVER SE MO AND NRN AR WILL PUSH INTO THE NW PART OF THE CWFA THIS EVENING AND STALL OVER THE NRN CWFA TNT. EXPECT THIS BOUNDARY TO WASH OUT ON SUN. SCT TSTMS ARE OCCURRING ACROSS THE CWFA AND EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO CONT WELL INTO THE EVENING. STILL CANNOT RULE OUT A SHWR/TSTM OVERNIGHT WITH THE FRONT OVER THE AREA. EVEN THOUGH THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL BE DYING ON SUN...EXPECT SCT TSTMS FROM LEFTOVER MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY. WILL INCLUDE LINGERING POPS IN THE S SUN EVENING. A SUMMER-LIKE PATTERN DEVELOPS THIS COMING WEEK...SO TEMP VARIATIONS WILL BE MINIMAL AND WINDS WILL BE LIGHTER THAN THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS. WEAK RIDGING WILL TAKE PLACE MON-TUE...SO DO NOT EXPECT MUCH IN THE WAY OF TSTM ACTIVITY. AN UPPER TROUGH APPROACHES THE REGION FROM THE W WED AND HANGS AROUND THROUGH FRI. SINCE MODELS ARE MORE AND MORE CONSISTENT WITH THIS SCENARIO...WILL INCLUDE PM TSTM POPS WED-FRI. A SUBTROPICAL RIDGE DEVELOPS OVER THE REGION NEXT WEEKEND... SO EXPECT LOWER POPS AND HIGHER TEMPS BY DAY 7. PRELIM VALUES... MEM 67/83/67/86/68/86 332101 MKL 63/81/61/85/64/86 331101 JBR 62/82/63/85/65/86 331101 TUP 64/83/65/86/66/86 332101 .MEG...NONE. SWC
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:02 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 16 year-old girl was killed by a lightning strike while camping near Sardis Lake.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Panola | 2002-05-25 | 16 | Female | Camping | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, May 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: 5298589.