1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 24, 1:15 PM EST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 215 PM EDT WED JUL 24 2002 OLD CYCLONIC CIRC ALOFT OVER GA IS NOT AS DISTINCTIVE AS IT HAS BEEN IN DAYS PAST. ALTHOUGH IN A MUCH DIMINISHED STATE THE WEAKNESS ALOFT WILL KEEP MOIST PLUME ALONG THE SE COAST...WHILE BERMUDA HIGH SUPPORTS A WARM/MOIST BLYR. HARD TO PICK OUT THE INDIVIDUAL IMPULSES...BUT COULD SEE ONE MOVE OVER THE AREA FRI. WHAT IS LEFT OF THE UPPER LOW WILL DRIFT WWD DURING THU. MEANWHILE THE MAIN S/WV ENERGY WILL PASS FAR N OF HERE AND SUPPORT WEAK TROFFING DOWN THE EAST COAST. WILL ONCE AGAIN SEE SPEED CONVERGENCE LEAD TO SHRA/TSRA DEVELOPMENT OVER THE WATER OVERNIGHT AND IN THE MORNING. W/ HEATING WILL SEE THE DIURNAL TRANSITION OF CONVECTION TO INLAND LOCS DURING THE AFTN AND EVENING. THE FOCUS OF SHRA/TSRA ACTIVITY WOULD OCCUR W/ THE SEA BREEZE AND SMALLER SCALE BOUNDARY INTERACTION. CHANCE POPS SHOULD WORK SINCE THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT LIFTING FOCUS TO WORK W/. SKIES WILL VARY FROM PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY AND TEMPS WILL SLOWLY WARM HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND. A BLEND OF GUIDANCE SEEMS REASONABLE. EXTENDED SAT THROUGH WED: PATTERN FLATTENS SOME THIS WEEKEND ACROSS THE SE STATES...HOWEVER A WEAKNESS WILL PERSIST ALOFT AND IF THE AVN IS RIGHT MAY SEE A BETTER VORT IN THE NW FLOW DURING SAT. FOR NOW SINCE THE COLUMN LOOKS A BIT DRIER ONLY EXPECT SOME RANDOM DIURNAL CONVECTION SAT/SUN W/ THE SEA BREEZE FRONT AS A FOCUS. HEIGHTS INCREASE MON/TUE TIME FRAME AS AN UPPER RIDGE BUILDS IN FROM THE SOUTHERN STATES. NO NEED TO MENTION SHRA/TSRA AT THAT TIME W/ TEMPS WARMING A FEW MORE DEGS ALOFT. WILL UNDERCUT MEX TEMPS A COUPLE DEGS...OTHERWISE THE NUMBERS LOOK FINE W/ MAX READINGS WARMING SLIGHTLY THROUGH THE PERIOD. MARINE: S/SW FLOW CONTINUES THROUGH MUCH OF THE WEEK AS FRONT NEARS AREA AND THEN HEADS BACK NORTH. SEAS 4 FEET BUILDING TO 5 FT. SEAS MIGHT BUILD HIGH ENOUGH TO WARRANT SCA YET THIS WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE SO WILL JUST KEEP A SOLID 5 FT SEA AND SEE HOW THINGS PROGRESS. CONTINUED MENTION OF SHOWERS/TSTMS THROUGH REMAINDER OF WEEK. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS: ILM 74 87 74 89 / 40 40 40 40 LBT 72 89 72 90 / 50 40 40 40 FLO 72 90 74 91 / 50 40 40 40 MYR 74 85 72 87 / 40 40 40 40 .ILM... NC...NONE. SC...NONE. PFAFF/PJN
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 10 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:54 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A waterspout formed in the Shallote River and briefly moved over land before dissipating. The F0 tornado crossed Gray Bridge Road. There was no damage reported.
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 historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 2002Warnings in North Carolina, July 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: 5310665.