4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 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 Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 14, 1:41 PM EST, 2 hours 49 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 241 PM EDT TUE MAY 14 2002 MODELS FAIRLY SIMILAR TDA WITH TIMING AND MOVEMENT OF SYSTEMS. VORT OVR WRN LKS PROGGED TO MOVE SE ACRS FA THIS EVE. VERY STEEP LAPSE RATES WITH BUFKIT SOUNDGS SHOWG DECENT LIFT IN LLVLS THRU 06Z TGNT. OLD RULE OF THUMB SAYS THAT T PSBL WHENEVER LERI TO 5H TEMP DIFF 40 DEG C OR MORE. ETA FCSTS 38 DEG DIFF AT 00Z. HOWEVER NOT MUCH LLVL CAPES SO WL HOLD OFF ON T MENTION EVEN THO ISOLD TSRA PSBL. FOR NOW CHC SHRA POPS ALL AREAS FIRST HALF OF NGT. 8H RDG MOVES INTO WRN ZNS BY 12Z AND INTO NW PA BY 18Z WED. SHOULD BE DECENT DRYING AND EXPCT P/C TO M/SUNNY SKIES AREAS TMRW AFT. TIMING OF CDFNT WED NGT AND THU NEARLY IDENTICAL. THIS FRNT WL MOV INTO NRN SECTION OF FA THU AFT BUT NOT S OF FA UNTIL FRI AM. AVN SHOWS A LTTL MORE SFC DVLPMNT BUT THAT SHOULDN/T MATTER MUCH GIVEN GD AGREEMENT OF FRONTAL POSITION. AS EVIDENT TDA A LTTL SUN THIS TIME OF YEAR REALLY WARMS THINGS UP AND LIKE GUID TEMPS NR 70 WRN AREAS TMRW. COOLER FURTHER E...ESP ALONG LERI WITH WINDS WON/T BCM SWLY TIL AFT. GUID TEMPS OTHR PDS IN BALLPARK AS WELL. .CLE... OH...NONE. PA...NONE. KUBINA
The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:28 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds downed many trees in Mantua and Rootstown. A mobile home was damaged by a fallen tree near Rootstown.
Thunderstorm winds downed trees and large limbs in Canton, Waynesburg and Hartville. Homes were damaged by fallen trees in Canton and Waynesburg. Two cars were also significantly damaged by fallen trees in Canton and a third was damaged in Waynesburg.
Thunderstorm winds downed several trees in Akron. Three cars were damaged by the fallen trees.
Thunderstorm winds downed two trees near Killbuck.
Quarter size hail was reported two miles east of Willard.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, 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: 5296495, 5296497, 5296498, 5296496, 5296494.