2 thunderstorm wind, 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 Raleigh, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 16, 1:30 PM EST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC 130 PM EST SAT MAR 16 2002 NEAR TERM...THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE PATTERN HOLDS THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT WITH CENTRAL NC DOWNSTREAM OF A LONG SOUTHWESTERLY FETCH FROM THE BAJA. THIS ALSO PLACES US AT THE RECEIVING END OF MINOR/DAMPENING SHORT WAVE RIPPLES IN THE FLOW...ONE WHICH IS NOW CROSSING CENTRAL NC THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL EXIT EAST THIS EVENING. LOW LEVEL FLOW REMAINS WESTERLY AND SOMEWHAT DIFFLUENT LATE TODAY...LIMITING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND SHOWER/TSTM POTENTIAL. MOST NEAR TERM WEATHER ACTION TAKES PLACE IN THE LOWEST 10KFT. A COLD FRONT WITH MIDDAY TEMPERATURES IN THE 30S IN THE OHIO VALLEY SHOULD PUSH SOUTHWARD OVERNIGHT AND INTO CENTRAL NC DURING THE PREDAWN HOURS. THIS SHOULD SET THE STAGE FOR CLASSIC COLD AIR DAMMING PUSHED BY A 1040 HIGH OVER QUEBEC SUNDAY AND MONDAY. MODELS DEPICT ACCELERATIONS...LAYER LIFT...AND SATURATION IN THE FLOW AT THE 300K THETA SURFACE...NEAR THE TOP OF THE WEDGE LAYER... INDICATIVE OF OVERRUNNING RAIN BOTH SUNDAY AND MONDAY. POPS WILL BE IN THE LIKELY CATEGORY BOTH DAYS AND MAX TEMPERATURES WILL BE FORECAST ON THE COLD SIDE OF STATISTICAL GUIDANCE...FIGURING THE COLD AIR WILL HOLD UNDER CLOUDS AND RAIN. -RFG EXTENDED...COOL WEDGE WILL PROBABLY STICK AROUND LONGER THAN THE MODELS ARE INDICATING...AND WILL PROBABLY BEGIN TO ERODE JUST AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE ON WEDNESDAY. WILL KEEP TUESDAY COOL AND OVERCAST WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. CLEARING SKIES ON WEDNESDAY BEHIND THE FRONT...THEN A COOLING TREND BEGINNING ON THURSDAY. MRF INDICATES THE BIG PUSH OF COLD AIR ON FRIDAY AS A CANADIAN HIGH MOVES SOUTH INTO THE GREAT PLAINS. CANADIAN...ECMWF AND UKMET SHOW THIS SAME GENERAL PATTERN...THOUGH SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TIMING. WILL GO WITH TEMPERATURES AROUND 10 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. .RAH...NONE. RFG
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:29 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees were blown down and outbuildings were damaged from the intersection of Old Peggymill Road and Colesville Road to the Scotland County line.
Old Wire Road, McFarland Road, and Scotch Grove Road were blocked by fallen trees. At Hwy 501 and Scotch Grove Road, three homes were damaged and several agricultural buildings and vehicles were destroyed. Several mobile homes were blown off their foundations and damaged by fallen trees near Wagram.
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, March 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: 5281859, 5281860.