1 flood, 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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 18, 1:00 PM CST, 6 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 200 PM CDT SAT MAY 18 2002 PRIMARY FORECAST CHALLENGE IS NEAR TERM...POSSIBILITY OF FROST TONIGHT WITH RECORD LOW TEMPS LIKELY. VISIBLE IMAGERY LOOPS SHOW SC/CU FIELD FM UPR MIDWEST WELL SOUTH INTO PAH FA...HAVING DEVELOPED WITHIN H8 50MB CPD FIELD...W/ETA ANALYZED 1000-850MB RH VALUES OF ONLY AROUND 60%. HOWEVER IT IS DIURNALLY DRIVEN AND THUS EXPECT A CLR-MOCLEAR EARLY NIGHT SKY AS WINDS GRADUALLY DIMINISH. MODELS THEN DIFFER...W/NGM-ETA ONLY HINTING AT ADVECTION OF CLOUDS INTO MAINLY NRN PTNS FA LATE TONIGHT...AND AVN RATHER AGGRESSIVE WITH IT. BUT NUMERICAL GUIDANCE DOES NOT RESPOND WITH MORE THAN A SCT DECK EITHER WAY. TIME/HEIGHT CROSS SECTIONS REVEAL 70-80% BL MOISTURE IN THE NORTH...60-70% SOUTH...AND WITHOUT DIURNAL HELP WL OPT FOR PC SKY TONIGHT VS GOING MOCLOUDY. ANTICIPATE THIS MAY DIMINISH WIDESPREAD DEVELOPMENT OF FROST...BUT WL LEAVE SCT FROST MENTIONED IN PACKAGE TO GIVE A LTL LEEWAY ON SKY COVER. WHATEVER GUIDANCE YOU CHOOSE WL SEE RECORD LOW TONIGHT...BASED ON UPSTREAM TDS SHOULD SEE U30S TONIGHT MOST LOCALES. WL KEEP COOL/DRY FCST UNDERNEATH NW FLOW PATTERN THRU TUE...WHEN SOME MODERATION EXPECTED AS UPR RIDGE STARTS TO MOVE IN. ACTUALLY WL BRING IN SOME OF THE AVN DEPICTED HIGHER MOISTURE TO NRN PTNS FA AS LAST STRONG VORT ROTATES AROUND BASE OF LONG WAVE TROF SUN-SUN NIGHT...BUT WL LAYOFF ANY MENTION OF PCPN DESPITE LOW POPS PRODUCED BY AVN MOS AND LIGHT QPF PAINTED BY MODEL...USUALLY OVERDONE BY AVN. MID-LATE WEEK WARMUP STILL EXPECTED W/GRADUAL INCREASE IN MOISTURE AS WELL...AS RIDGE MOVES OVERHEAD THEN EAST. WL INTRODUCE SMALL CHC RA SOUTH ON SAT AS BROAD SRN U.S. ANTICYCLONE STARTS TO YIELD A LTL TO MORE ZONAL FLOW AND MRF INDICATION OF SRN PLAINS WAVE BRINGING IN POSSIBLE OVERRUNNING PCPN FIELD BY SAT. .PAH...NONE. HUMPHREY
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Current River flooded at Doniphan. The river crested at 17.4 feet around 4 A.M. on May 19, several feet above the flood stage of 13 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, 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: 5295788.