Flash Flood in Missouri, May 28 to 29, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Missouri, May 28 to 29, 2002
Start: 2002-05-28T22:25
End: 2002-05-29T03:30
Location: Missouri

May 28 to 29, 2002 · NWS SGF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Two to four inches of rain fell in a short period of time causing flash flooding around Galena and Hurley. Water was reported flowing over several roadways in these communities.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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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 happened

The episode as NWS SGF wrote it up.

Two to four inches of rain fell in a short period of time causing flash flooding around Galena and Hurley. Water was reported flowing over several roadways in these communities.

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 Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 28, 2:10 PM CST, 8 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:10 PM CST, 8 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
310 PM CDT TUE MAY 28 2002

STRONG CENTER OF CIRCULATION ASSOCIATED WITH UPPER LOW CONTINUES TO
CHURN ACROSS CENTRAL OK THIS AFTERNOON...WITH CONVECTION FIRING IN
ALL QUADRANTS. THIS SYSTEM HAS TAKEN ON A TROPICAL APPEARANCE...WITH
SEVERAL FEEDER BANDS AND AT LEAST TWO MESOSCALE VORT CENTERS
DEPICTED ON KSGF/KINX 88D AND VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY.  ALTHOUGH
RAINFALL ACROSS THE CWA HAS BEEN GENERALLY LIGHT THUS FAR...EXPECT
ADEQUATE LIFT AND STRONG UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH
UPPER LOW TO SUPPORT REDEVELOPMENT OF DEEP CONVECTION ACROSS AR/OK
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WHICH WILL PINWHEEL NORTH INTO THE
CWA. THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE AND INTENSITY WILL BE MAXIMIZED IN AREAS
THAT RECEIVE SUNSHINE...WHICH WILL LIKELY BE ALONG THE AR/OK BORDER
BASED ON RECENT SATELLITE LOOPS.

HAVE UPGRADED TO LIKELY POPS FOR TONIGHT ACROSS THE SERN 2/3RDS OF
THE FA...WITH FAR NWRN SECTIONS THE LEAST LIKELY TO SEE SIGNIFICANT
RAINFALL. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CERTAINLY NOT AN ISSUE WITH NEARLY
SATURATED SOUNDINGS AND WEAK WIND FIELDS...HOWEVER LOCALIZED
FLOODING POTENTIAL WILL AGAIN BE THE EYE CATCHER WITH PRECIPITABLE
H2O VALUES IN EXCESS OF 1.50 AND CORFIDI VECTORS SUGGESTING SLOW
NEWD STORM MOVEMENT.

OTHERWISE...NOT MUCH CHANGE TO PREVIOUS FORECAST. POTENT UPPER LEVEL
SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE THE CHANCES FOR SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS IT DRIFTS SOUTHEAST INTO THE ARKLATEX. HAVE
MAINTAINED HIGHEST POPS OF SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA...BUT
MASS/INSTABILITY PROGS SUGGEST THAT CONVECTION COULD FIRE JUST ABOUT
ANYWHERE IN A BROAD AREA CIRCULATING UPPER LOW CENTER. WILL CONTINUE
BELOW NORMAL TEMPS THROUGH TOMORROW...ALTHOUGH A BIT WARMER THAN
TODAY AS I EXPECT SOME SUNSHINE WILL MANAGE TO BREAK THROUGH FROM
TIME TO TIME.

DRY WEATHER WILL MOVE IN FOR THURSDAY AS UPPER LEVEL FLOW TURNS
ANTI-CYCLONIC WITH UNSEASONABLY STRONG UPPER RIDGE AMPLIFICATION
ACROSS THE WRN US. WARM AND HUMID WEATHER WILL ACCOMPANY DRY
CONDITIONS THROUGH MOST OF THE EXTENDED...WITH HIGHS GENERALLY IN
THE MID 80S AND LOWS IN THE MID 60S EAST TO NEAR 70 WEST.

ISC GRIDS HAVE BEEN SENT. THANKS FOR COORD LSX.

.SGF...NONE.

BOOKBINDER

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:26 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Stone

When: May 28, 10:25 PM CST to May 29, 3:30 AM CST
Where: Stone County, North Portion
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.747, -93.456 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings 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: 5299372.