5 hail, 4 tornado, 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 Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 30, 9:55 AM CST, 4 hours 42 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 955 AM CST MON DEC 30 2002 STRONG SOUTHEAST FLOW PUMPING MOISTURE OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS WITH GUSTS OVER 30 MPH. BREAKS IN CLOUD COVER CENTRAL ZONES WILL AID DESTABILIZATION. WITH UPR JET ALREADY PUSHING ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE AND MID LEVEL JET PROGGED TO ENTER CWA EARLY AFTERNOON EXPECT COMPONENTS OF SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK TO COME TOGETHER QUICKLY WITH RATHER EXPLOSIVE DEVELOPMENT AS PRE-FRONTAL TROF...STRONG SOUTHEAST INFLOW...AND MID/UPR LEVEL JET STRUCTURES MEET OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. CAPES NEAR 1200 NOW WILL CLIMB WITH SOME HEATING...AREAS IN MEXICO CURRENTLY INDICATING NEAR 3000 J/KG. HELICITIES BASED ON MESOETA 300-350. CAN EXPECT SOME ADDITIONAL VEERING ESPECIALLY IN ISOLATED CELLS AHEAD OF MAIN LINE. FRONT SHOULD BLOW THROUGH BY 00Z WEST AND 03Z EAST WITH LINGERING CLOUD COVER GONE BY SUNRISE. BRIEF CONCERN WITH ELEVATED CONVECTION UNTIL CLOSED LOW FINALLY MOVES EAST BY 12Z. 10/18/VL PREVIOUS DISCUSSION: SEVERE WEATHER EVENT SHAPING UP FOR MOST OF THE EWX CWA TODAY AND THIS EVENING, THEN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WEATHER THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST CYCLE. GENERALLY FOLLOWED THE ETA IN THE SURFACE TO 850 MB LAYER WITH GFS ABOVE AS THIS SEEMS THE BETTER WAY TO GO LATELY. MID LEVEL TROUGH IN EASTERN ARIZONA WILL DROP A LITTLE FURTHER SOUTH AND DEEPEN ON STRONG UPPER JET STILL ON BACK SIDE THIS MORNING, THEN TRACK ACROSS CENTRAL TEXAS THIS EVENING. PACIFIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS CWA LATE THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON. INITIALLY, A STRONG CAP WITH ONLY SHOWERS ON THE LOW LEVEL JET, THEN AS DAYTIME HEATING PUSHES TEMPERATURES INTO THE 70S, RAPID DESTABILIZATION, STRENGTHENING UPPER DIFFLUENCE, AND WEAKENING CAP ALLOW DEEPER CONVECTION TO DEVELOP OVER THE WESTERN HILL COUNTRY AND FORM INTO A SQUALL LINE BY THE I-35/HIGHWAY 281 CORRIDOR AND THEN TRACK EAST. DAMAGING WINDS, TORNADOES, AND LARGE HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE LINE ON CAPES 2200 TO 2800, LIS -8 TO -10, AND KS 34 TO 37. PWS OF 1 TO 1.5 INCHES ON PLUME OF MOISTURE FROM SOUTHWEST OF HAWAII ALSO SUGGESTS LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. BEHIND SQUALL LINE, UNTIL AROUND MIDNIGHT, AS THE LOW MOVES ACROSS, DEEP CONVECTION TO REDEVELOP ON FURTHER DESTABILIZATION AS LOWER LEVELS DRY OUT ONLY A LITTLE. LARGE HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE LOW ON STEEP MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES. SQUALL LINE SHOULD BE ACTIVE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES, GULF OF MEXICO AND OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC. BRIEF RIDGING LATE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY MAKE FOR MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES. ANOTHER SHORT-WAVE MOVES THE THROUGH PLAINS ON WEDNESDAY (NEW YEARS DAY) WITH CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT MAKING FOR PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES, AND DRAGGING ANOTHER COLD FRONT ACROSS THE CWA BY EVENING, ALTHOUGH NO POPS AS MOISTURE AND LIFT LACKING. NORTHWEST FLOW DUE TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN STATES AND SURFACE RIDGE BUILDS INTO TEXAS FOR MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. OVER THE WEEKEND, ANOTHER SHORT- WAVE MOVES ACROSS THE PLAINS TO REINFORCE THE EASTERN TROUGH AND DRAG ANOTHER COLD FRONT INTO THE CWA. AGAIN MOISTURE AND LIFT LACKING FOR POPS. DAILY TEMPERATURES WILL AVERAGE NEAR SEASONAL LEVELS WITH SOME DAY TO DAY VARIATION, EXCEPT WELL ABOVE AVERAGE TODAY. PRELIMS... AUS TA 075/043 064/033 068 85000 DRT NU 074/035 070/040 070 20000 SAT TU 075/045 066/036 070 74000 .EWX...NONE.
TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-311200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 550 AM CST MON DEC 30 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE... A POTENT UPPER LEVEL LOW AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT NEAR EL PASO WILL PROGRESS SOUTHEAST TODAY AND INTERACT WITH MOISTURE FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO TO PRODUCE NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE GREATEST ALONG AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 35 BETWEEN SAN ANTONIO AND AUSTIN. THESE STORMS WILL LIKELY BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE AS WELL. THE GREATEST THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ALONG THE COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY.
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:38 UTC.
5 hail, 4 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A small tornado was spotted by a Helotes Fireman who was also a Skywarn Amateur Radio Spotter. It was small and dipped down briefly before lifting and dissipating. No damage was indicated.
A small tornado was spotted by a member of the Austin Police Department 3 miles east of San Marcos. The tornado was on the ground around five minutes as it moved northeastward to near the Caldwell County lin e before dissipating. No damage was reported.
A short-lived and small F0 tornado was spotted by an Amateur Radio Operator in an open area 4 miles northwest of Lockhart. The tornado remained on the ground for approximately two minutes, while traveling toward the northeast. It dissipated without causing any significant damage.
Minor damage was reported to windows and roofs of buildings as well as vehicles in the Floresville area.
High winds blew down trees in the Giddings area.
The tornado, as surveyed by the Fayette County Emergency Manager, touched down along East Radhost School Road, approximately 6 miles south of LaGrange at 1735 CST and moved for three-fourths of a mile toward the northeast. It was estimated at 50 yards wide and damaged a 20 foot by 20 foot carport and a 15 foot by 20 foot wooden building before dissipating near 1740CST. The tornado was rated F0 on the Fujita Scale.
Severe thunderstorm winds damaged the walls and screen of an outdoor drive-in theater and destroyed several outbuildings just west of Hallettsville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2002Warnings in Texas, December 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: 5326229, 5326230, 5326231, 5326234, 5326233, 5326232, 5326235, 5326236, 5326316, 5326315, 5326317.