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 Newport/Morehead City, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 15, 1:56 PM EST, 5 hours 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC 256 PM EDT THU AUG 15 2002 OVERVIEW: GOOD COVERAGE OF SHOWERS/TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON AS ANOTHER IN A SERIES OF MID-LEVEL VORTMAXES AS PUSHED ACROSS THE AREA TODAY...WORKING ON A JUICY AIRMASS WITH PWATS ABOVE 2 INCHES. BERMUDA HI SHOWS SIGNS OF RETROGRADING AND BUILDING OVER THE AREA BEGINNING FRI. SHORT TERM: WILL CARRY CHC POPS OVER MAINLAND AREAS TONIGHT AS PRECIP ONGOING TO THE SOUTH AND WEST OF OUR CWA MAY WILL GRADUALLY MOVE IN. WILL KEEP POPS LOWEST ON THE OUTER BANKS. MUGGY MIN TEMPS IN THE 70 TO 75 DEGREE RANGE. WILL FCST A SUMMERLIKE 30 PCT POP FOR FRI WITH SOME CONVERGENCE OCCURING WITH SW GRADIENT FLOW AND SEABREEZE MOVING INLAND. HIGH TEMPS WILL BE WITHIN A DEG OR TWO OF 90 IN MOST AREAS. WILL CONTINUE A CLIMATOLOGICALLY NORMAL DAILY DOSE OF SHWRS/TSTMS THRU THE WEEKEND. EXTENDED: RESPECTABLE COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE AREA MONDAY AFTERNOON WITH A SLIGHTLY HIER POP. STG SFC HIGH BUILDS SOUTH FROM THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES BY MONDAY NIGHT WITH DRIER AND SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS THRU MIDWEEK. MARINE: 10 TO 15 KT S-SW FLOW TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE WEEK...WITH PERHAPS AN INCREASE IN SPEEDS TO 20 KT BY LATE WEEKEND INTO ERLY WEEK AS LOWER PRES APPROACHES FROM THE NW. WILL HOLD AT 20 KT OR LESS THROUGH THE FCST PERIOD ATTM. APPEARS WE MAY GET A WSHFT TO THE N TUE AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES THROUGH THE MID ATLC ON THE SE QUAD OF A COOL AND DRY HIGH PRES CELL MOVG ACRS THE OH VLY. WILL RETAIN TSTMS IN WATERS AS WEAK ENEGRY ROTATES ON W SIDE OF BERMUDA HIGH WITH SEA BRZ INTERACTION AND STEERING FLOW TO THE ENE. MHX...NONE FCSTID = 11/15 MHX 75 88 73 89 / 30 30 20 30 EWN 73 90 73 91 / 30 30 20 30 HSE 76 86 76 87 / 20 30 20 30 PGV 73 91 73 91 / 30 30 20 30 PUBLIC/FIRE...COLLINS MARINE/AVIATION...COLBY
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:04 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a Pitt County Office Building main transformer and caused substantial damage to the building and electronics.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, August 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: 5314333.