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 Raleigh, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 30, 10:05 PM EST, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC 1105 PM EDT TUE APR 30 2002 *******UPDATE******** LATEST SATELLITE AND RADAR TRENDS COUPLED WITH LATEST SHORT TERM MODEL GUIDANCE SUGGEST THAT CATEGORICAL/LIKELY POPS ACROSS NORTH HALF OF FORECAST AREA ARE TOO HIGH. PLAN TO LOWER POPS 20% IN THE TRIAD AND TRIANGLE REGIONS OVERNIGHT AND MAY ALSO ADJUST POPS DOWNWARD 10-20% WED. BEST CHANCE OF MEASURABLE RAIN OVERNIGHT/EARLY WED ACROSS SOUTHERN PIEDMONT AND SANDHILLS. WILL LEAVE FORECAST AS IS IN THESE REGIONS. **************************************************************** PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... LOW LEVEL SW FLOW STRENGTHENING AS PER 00Z GSO SOUNDING. WHILE SURFACE DEWPOINTS HAVE HELD STEADY ACROSS CENTRAL NC...DEWPOINTS OVER SC HAVE RISEN SINCE 21Z. QUESTIONS REMAIN ON AREAL EXTENT/QPF FOR OVERNIGHT/EARLY WED. THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX OVER DEEP SOUTH LIKELY DELAYING NORTHWARD PUSH OF SURFACE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. 00Z UPPER AIR ANALYSIS DEPICTS DECENT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TRANSPORT INTO CENTRAL NC. 850MB WIND FIELD NOT AS ROBUST AS DEPICTED BY AVN MODEL RUN... MORE IN LINE WITH NGM/ETA SOLUTION. NGM PRECIP COVERAGE VERIFIED BEST BETWEEN 18-00Z. ONCE T-STORM COMPLEX PUSHES FURTHER SE...EXPECT ISENTROPIC LIFT TO INCREASE OVER REGION. TIMING OF SHOWERS STILL APPEARS TO BE BETWEEN 09-12Z. MOST LOCALES WILL LIKELY MEASURE RAIN BEFORE 12Z...BUT MOST OF THE NORTH AND EAST WILL LIKELY NOT MEASURE UNTIL JUST BEFORE 12Z. HIGH TEMPS WED TRICKY AS APPEARS THAT HYBRID/INSITU DAMMING EVENT MAY OCCUR FOR MOST OF THE DAY. POTENTIAL FOR TEMPS TO REMAIN BELOW 70 FOR A GOOD PART OF THE DAY ACROSS THE NORTH HALF BEFORE RISING BETWEEN 4 AND 8 PM. HOWEVER...DAMMING SIGNAL FAIRLY WEAK SO WILL LEAVE WED FORECAST AS IS. .RAH...NONE. WSS
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:56 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike started a fire that severely damaged a historic home.
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, May 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: 5288695.