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 May 23, 1:15 PM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
215 PM EDT THU MAY 23 2002
BASICALLY A TEMP FORECAST IN THE SHORT TERM WITH SLIGHT
MODIFICATIONS REQUIRED OF CURRENT FORECAST AND MOS TEMP GUIDANCE.
CURRENT DEWPOINTS ACROSS CENTRAL NC ARE 5 TO 10 DEGREES LOWER
COMPARED TO 18Z PROGS OF AVN/ETA. NGM DEWPOINTS CLOSER TO
REALITY. NGM PROJECTS DEWPOINTS IN THE 40 TO 45 RANGE OVERNIGHT.
WITH SURFACE RIDGE AXIS IN VICINITY...EXPECT OVERNIGHT TEMPS TO
BOTTOM OUT A CATEGORY OR TWO BELOW GUIDANCE/CURRENT FORECAST.
FOR FRI...EXPECT SIGNIFICANT WARM UP AS 850 TEMPS WARM 4-5 DEGREES
DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. HOWEVER UPPER 80S MAY BE A STRETCH. TEMPS
THIS AFTERNOON NOT RISING AS QUICKLY AS EARLIER ANTICIPATED. FAVOR
MID 80S MOST LOCALES FRI. SIMILAR CONDITIONS SAT. UPPER RIDGE
GRADUALLY WEAKENS/DRIFTS EAST...CAUSING UPPER LEVEL FLOW TO BACK TO
A SW DIRECTION. THIS WILL LIKELY PULL SOME CIRRUS INTO REGION BUT
NOT ENOUGH TO DETER MOSTLY SUNNY FORECAST. SHOULD START OUT A FEW
DEGREES WARMER SAT SO AFTERNOON HIGHS SHOULD RANGE BETWEEN 85-90.
CONTINUED WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS SUN. WEAK RIDGE SHOULD HOLD OVER
REGION AS WE WILL BE SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE DEVELOPING LOW TO OUR
S-SE AND A FRONTAL SYSTEM TO OUR N-NW.
EXTENDED...STILL UNCERTAIN AS TO THREAT OF PRECIP ASSOCIATED WITH
WEAK/DECAYING FRONT PROGGED TO BE NW OF FORECAST AREA MON...AND
COASTAL SYSTEM APPROACHING COASTAL NC EARLY NEXT WEEK. MRF/AVNX
DISPLAY POOR RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY CONCERNING COASTAL SYSTEM.
MEDIUM RANGE MODELS OFFERING VARIED TIMING SOLUTIONS WITH NAVY
NOGAPS MUCH SLOWER THAN MOST. TREND HAS BEEN TOWARD A SLOWER
EVOLUTION OF COASTAL SYSTEM WITH RIDGING HOLDING ON LONGER OVER
CENTRAL NC. UNTIL MODELS DISPLAY BETTER CONSENSUS...WILL OPT FOR
DRY FORECAST FOR NOW. WILL GO WITH PARTLY CLOUDY OR VARIABLY CLOUDY
MON AND TUE. HIGHS WELL INTO IN THE 80S SUN THEN COOLING TO LEVELS
CLOSER TO NORMAL FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST PERIOD.
RDU 48/86/58/88 0000 GSO 49/84/58/86 0000
FAY 52/86/59/89 0000
.RDU...NONE.
WSSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 7-year-old boy was struck by lightning under a tree in his backyard, and died in a hospital three days later.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Moore | 2002-05-26 | 7 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
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: 5288696.