Missouri, 2002

Tornado in Missouri, May 12, 2002

May 12, 2002 · NWS LSX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 12, 3:30 PM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 12, 3:30 PM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
430 PM CDT SUN MAY 12 2002

PROBS THIS PKG TO BE HVY PCPN TNGT. CDFNT SAGGING SLOLY S ACRS FA
AND STG TSRA DVLPG ALG AND MOVG NE. THIS ACTVTY TO CONT THRU EVE
UNTIL FNT MVS FRTHR S AND T0H S/WV MVS E. WL CONT FLOOD WATCH TNGT
FOR SERN ZNS BUT THINK PCPN ONLY LGT TO W AND N AND WL DROP WATCH
THERE. FFG VERY LOW OVR ALL OF FA AND TSTMS WL AGGRAVATE SITN OVR
SRN ZNS TNGT. PCPN SHUD END LT TNGT OVR SRN ZNS WITH CLRG ON MON.

MDL TEMPS IN GD AGMT AND ACCPTD WITH ONLY MINOR TWEAKS. 50H RDG BLDG
OVR CTRL US THRU MID WK AND DRY CONDS INTO XTNDD WITH NXT CHC PCPN
BACKED OFF TIL THU AS NXT SYS APCHS FM W.

.STL...FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR TNGT FOR SERN ZNS.

WDB

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 12, 2:27 PM CST, 2 hours 43 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
327 PM CDT SUN MAY 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0254 PM    NEW LONDON                MO   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/12/02   RALLS                          QUARTER TO GOLF BALL
                                          SIZED HAIL COVERING THE
                                          GROUND.
Local storm report, May 12, 3:43 PM CST, 1 hour 27 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
443 PM CDT SUN MAY 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0254 PM    NEW LONDON                MO   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/12/02   RALLS                          QUARTER TO GOLF BALL
                                          SIZED HAIL COVERING THE
                                          GROUND.

0427 PM    GODFREY                   IL   WIND DAMAGE
05/12/02   MADISON                        POWER LINES DOWN REPORTED
                                          BY MADISON COUNTY
                                          EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
                                          AGENCY.

0150 PM    MILLERSBURG               MO   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/12/02   CALLAWAY                       REPORTED IN MILLERSBURG
                                          AND ALONG I-70

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:12 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Washington

When
May 12, 5:10 PM CST
Where
Washington County, Hopewell
Rating
F0
Path length
0.1 mi
Path width
30 yd
Reported by
NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates
37.883, -90.717

A small tornado hit just north of Hopewell. Damaged was limited to downed and snapped trees.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Missouri in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Missouri, 2002Warnings in Missouri, 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: 5292006.