Name: Hail in North Carolina, July 4, 2002
Start: 2002-07-04T13:20
End: 2002-07-04T13:20
Location: North Carolina

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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 10:10 AM EST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 10:10 AM EST, 3 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1110 AM EDT THU JUL 4 2002

THE BROKEN RECORD CONTINUES OVER CWFA AS ENE FLOW AND H5 COLD TROF
REMAIN IN PLACE OVER THE REGION. GSO SOUNDING WAS NOT
AVAILABLE...BUT A MODIFIED RNK SOUNDING HAS A 3000 CAPE. THE WBZ IS
AGAIN AROUND 12KFT...THOUGH PULSE STORMS YDAY DID PRODUCE A FAIR
AMOUNT OF SMALL HAIL.

JUST LIKE YDAY...LEE TROUGH SUPERIMPOSED ON A LARGER SCALE LLVL
SYNOPTIC SCALE TROF WL RESULT IN MOISTURE CONVERGENCE FROM CENTRAL
VA INTO WRN NC. EXPECT TSRA TO DEVELOP IN HIGHER INSTABILITY TO OUR
N...THEN SLOWLY PUSH WSW. WL PUT SEVERE MENTION AND HEAVY RAIN IN
THE ZONES AGAIN TDA.

SOME AC OVER THE SW ZONES SHOULD DISSIPATE FAIRLY SOON...AND DON/T
EXPECT THIS TO HAVE MUCH EFFECT ON TEMPERATURES. IT WL PUSH
CONVECTIVE INITIATION A HOUR OR TWO.

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

MCAVOY

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 4, 10:35 AM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-042230-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1135 AM EDT THU JUL 4 2002

...SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING...

THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE CHANGE IN THE AIRMASS OVER THE WESTERN
CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA SINCE YESTERDAY. ONCE
AGAIN...THUNDERSTORMS WILL INITIALLY DEVELOP OVER THE HIGHER
ELEVATIONS OF THE BLUE RIDGE IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON. LATER IN THE
DAY...THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP FARTHER TO THE EAST.

WHILE THE BEST CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE IN THE
MOUNTAINS...JUST ABOUT ANY LOCATION ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND
NORTHEAST GEORGIA HAS A CHANCE OF SEEING A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THUNDERSTORMS TODAY
WILL HAIL TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND DAMAGING WINDS.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL ONCE AGAIN BE SLOW MOVING. THIS WILL LIMIT
THE AREA AFFECTED BY DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL...BUT WILL RESULT IN A
FEW LOCATIONS SEEING EXCESSIVE RAINFALL. IN PARTICULAR...THE EASTERN
SLOPES OF THE BLUE RIDGE MAY SEE SOME LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING.

SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO ACTIVATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
THIS EVENING. DISPATCHERS SHOULD ENSURE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
OFFICIALS ARE AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION.

MCAVOY

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:21 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Cabarrus

When: July 4, 1:20 PM EST
Where: Cabarrus County, 3 mi N of Harrisburg
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.370, -80.667

Reported on Highway 49.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in North Carolina, July 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: 5310800.