Hail in Oklahoma, May 23, 2002

Name: Hail in Oklahoma, May 23, 2002
Start: 2002-05-23T19:05
End: 2002-05-23T19:40
Location: Oklahoma

May 23, 2002 · NWS AMA · 3 events in 1 county or zone

Severe thunderstorms with hail moved across the eastern Oklahoma panhandle during the evening hours.

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: 3

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 happened

The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.

Severe thunderstorms with hail moved across the eastern Oklahoma panhandle during the evening hours.

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 Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 23, 1:55 PM CST, 5 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 1:55 PM CST, 5 hours 10 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
255 PM CDT THU MAY 23 2002

LATEST ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT COLD FRONT HAS STALLED OVER CNTRL ZNS
AS A NEW SFC LOW GETS BETTER ORGANIZED BETWEEN KROW AND KCVS AS
HINTED BY ETA MODEL. THIS SFC LOW IS PROGGED BY ALL SHORT RANGE
MODELS TO TRACK NEWD THRU FCST AREA TNGT AND FRI...WITH FRONTAL
BOUNDARY ACTUALLY RETREATING NWD TO NRN ZNS IN ACCORDANCE WITH 12Z
ETA/AVN/NGM...THEN MOVG SWD AGAIN LATER FRI AND FRI NIGHT...OUT OF
THE PNHDLS BY 12Z SAT. WILL CONTINUE TO CARRY HIGHEST POPS NERN HALF
TNGT...SLGT CHC ALL ZNS FRI...CHC POPS FRI NIGHT THRU THE MEMORIAL
WEEKEND. UA PATTERN FEATURES BROAD WSW FLOW WITH EMBEDDED
DISTURBANCES ZIPPING ACROSS ON OCCASION. COMBINATION OF MOISTURE...
WEAK IMPULSES AND PROXIMITY OF SFC BOUNDARIES WARRANTS THE CHC POPS
THRU WEEKEND...AGAIN FAIRLY TYPICAL OF CLIMATOLOGY OF LATE MAY HERE
ON SRN HI PLAINS. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS TEND TO AGREE ON BROAD WSW
FLOW ALOFT CONTINUING INTO TUE BEFORE HEIGHTS RISE AND RIDGING
OCCURS OVER WRN US. DEPENDING ON RIDGE AXIS...COULD SEE SOME SORT OF
NW FLOW OVER PNHDLS WED AND THU WHICH ALWAYS RAISES A CONCERN OF NW
FLOW WX EVENTS. WILL MAINTAIN THE CHC POPS FOR WED AND ADD THU IN AS
WELL DUE TO THAT PSBLTY BASED ON SOME SEMBLANCE OF MEDIUM RANGE
MODEL AGREEMENT...EXCEPTION BEING THE ECMWF WHICH HOLDS ON TO
SLIGHTLY LOWER HEIGHTS A BIT LONGER.

.AMA...
TX...NONE.
OK...NONE.

ANDRADE

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:07 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Beaver

When: May 23, 7:05 PM CST
Where: Beaver County, Balko
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.633, -100.683

Hail, Beaver

When: May 23, 7:34 PM CST
Where: Beaver County, Beaver
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.817, -100.517

Hail, Beaver

When: May 23, 7:40 PM CST
Where: Beaver County, Forgan
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.900, -100.533

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

Every storm in Oklahoma in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Oklahoma, May 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: 5295723, 5295724, 5295725.