North Carolina, 2002

Hail in North Carolina, March 16, 2002

March 16, 2002 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 Mar 16, 9:50 AM EST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 16, 9:50 AM EST, 1 hour 18 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
950 AM EST SAT MAR 16 2002

KGSP RADAR SHOWS SOLID LINE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NC
MOUNTAINS...POISED TO MOVE OUT OVER THE NC FOOTHILLS. LIGHTNING
ACTIVITY HAS DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE PAST HOUR....BUT BAND OF
PRECIP REMAINS ESSENTIALLY INTACT FOR THE TIME BEING. KFFC RADAR
SHOWS SIGNIFICANTLY LESS ACTIVITY OVER NE GA...BUT ANOTHER LARGER
AREA OF CONVECTION MOVING IN FROM AL. IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE BEST
CHANCE FOR RAIN WILL BE ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES FOR THE NEXT
SEVERAL HOURS. WILL BE FORCED TO REGROUP AND GO CATEGORICAL ACROSS
THE NC FOOTHILLS...AND PERHAPS ACROSS NW PIEDMONT AS WELL. WILL MAKE
THAT CALL JUST BEFORE UPDATING AROUND 1030 TO 11AM ONCE PRECIP IS
MOVING OUT OF MOUNTAINS. THAT WILL ALLOW ME TO PERHAPS DROP BACK TO
CHANCE POP ACROSS MOUNTAINS FOR AFTERNOON. THE SC FOOTHILLS/PIEDMONT
AND NE GA ARE ANOTHER STORY. WITH 850 MB FLOW COMING AROUND TO
WESTERLY...IN THESE SITUATIONS...WE TYPICALLY SEE MUCH LESS PRECIP
ACROSS UPSTATE SC. KFFC RADAR WOULD SEEM TO SUPPORT THAT IDEA. WILL
CONSIDER DROPPING POP BACK TO A LOWER CHANCE ACROSS PART OF THE
UPSTATE.

TEMPS ARE A PROBLEM TOO...AS SEVERAL GROUPS ARE AT OR ABOVE WARM
FORECAST HIGHS AT THIS EARLY HOUR. WILL HAVE TO BUMP UP AT LEAST ONE
CAT AHEAD OF PRECIP BAND.

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

MOORE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 16, 11:05 AM EST, 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1105 AM EST SAT MAR 16 2002

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1045 AM    POLK COUNTY               NC   .88 INCH HAIL
03/16/02   POLK                           POLK COUNTY SHERIFFS
                                          DEPARTMENT REPORTED DIME
                                          TO NICKLE SIZE HAIL
                                          ACROSS COUNTY CAUSIN
                                          AUTOMOBILE WRECKS.

DHR

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:10 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Rutherford

When
March 16, 11:08 AM EST
Where
Rutherford County, Henrietta
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.250, -81.800

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 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, March 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: 5285691.