2 tornado, 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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 24, 12:55 PM CST, 24 minutes earlier.
COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 155 PM CDT THU OCT 24 2002 FCST WILL REMAIN WET THROUGH SAT AS UPPER LOW CONTS TO THE WEST OF THE REGION AND TAPS INTO MOISTURE FROM KENNA IN THE PAC ALONG WITH A SERIES OF IMPULSES STREAMING ACROSS S TX. QUESTION WILL BE TIMING OF IMPULSES. TODAYS MCS SHOULD CONT EWD AND EXIT THE REGION WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS...WITH A BRIEF REPRIEVE THIS EVENING AND STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN OVERNIGHT AND FRI. WILL CONT FFA THROUGH FRI. AVN AND ETA DIVERGE ON SAT. AVN SHOWS BEST UPPER LEV DYNAMICS SHIFTING NEWD BY SAT AFTERNOON AS A CF MOVES SWD ACROSS THE CWA...WHILE ETA KEEPS MOISTURE AND S/WV OVER S TX THROUGH SAT AFTERNOON AND CF STALLING WELL N OF THE AREA. THE AVN HAS PROGD THE CF TO MV THRU THE AREA THE PAST 2 RUNS...HOWEVER THE UPPER LOW WILL STILL BE TO THE WEST WITH A SW FLOW ALOFT...WHICH SHOULD HINDER THE SWD PROGRESSION OF THE FRONT. A PREFRONTAL TROF OVR THE CWA AHD OF CF ON FRI MAY MIMICK A CF MOVG THROUGH BY EARLY SAT AS ANOTHER S/WV SWINGS ACROSS THE REGION. HOWEVER...FOR NOW WILL NOT BRING CF THROUGH THE AREA...BUT WILL TWEAK WIND DIR MORE TO THE E...ESPECIALLY NRN ZONES. WIND DIR WILL LIKELY BE VRB ANYWAY DUE TO TSRAS AND OUTFLOW BDRIES. BY SUN...UPPER LOW CONTS TO THE WEST WITH YET ANOTHER S/WV. NEAR 2 INCH PWATS ALSO IN PLACE. UPPER LOW SHIFT CLOSER TO THE REGION BY MON WITH S TX UNDER STRONGER PORTION OF RRQ OF JET. WILL CONT WITH CHANCE POPS SUN/MON. BY TUE...UPPER LOW FINALLY BEGINS TO EXIT THE REGION WITH A BRIEF REPRIEVE FROM THE RAIN. RAIN CHANCES INCREASE ONCE AGAIN WED AS A STRONG CF APPROACHES THE REGION...WITH OVERRUNNING CONDITIONS AND COOLER TEMPS WED/THU. MARINE...WIND WILL REMAIN BELOW SCA CRITERIA THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. WINDS WILL REACH CAUTION LEVELS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AS A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES MOVE ACROSS THE AREA. COLD FRONT STILL EXPECTED TO REMAIN NORTH OF THE WATERS THROUGH SUNDAY. WILL GO WITH A LIGHT TO MODERATE SOUTHEAST AND SOUTH WIND. AIRMASS MOIST AND VERY UNSTABLE THROUGH THE PERIOD...SO WILL CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. PRELIMS... CRP TT 072/080 070/079 068 67677 VCT TT 069/079 067/075 065 67677 LRD TT 071/079 068/075 066 67666 .CRP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH FRIDAY TXZ229>234-239>247. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 4 PM CDT TXZ230>234-240>247 TE...81 CPW...78
TXZ229>234-239>247-251100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 1145 AM CDT THU OCT 24 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE COASTAL BEND...VICTORIA CROSSROADS AREA AND PORTIONS OF THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND SOME HAIL. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT THROUGH TONIGHT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE WITH THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... EMERGENCY MANAGERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS AND STORM SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL COMBINE WITH ABUNDANT MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY TO GENERATE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MONDAY.
TXZ230>234-240>247-242100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 1116 AM CDT THU OCT 24 2002 ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM CDT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH VALID UNTIL 400 PM CDT THURSDAY AFTERNOON. THE WATCH INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF ARANSAS...BEE...CALHOUN...DUVAL...GOLIAD...JIM WELLS... KLEBERG...LIVE OAK...MCMULLEN...NUECES...REFUGIO...SAN PATRICIO AND VICTORIA. SOME CITIES INCLUDED IN THE WATCH ARE ALICE...ARANSAS PASS...BEEVILLE...BENAVIDES...CORPUS CHRISTI...GEORGE WEST... GOLIAD...INGLESIDE...KINGSVILLE...MATHIS...PORT ARANSAS...PORT LAVACA...PORT OCONNOR...PORTLAND...REFUGIO...ROBSTOWN...ROCKPORT... SEADRIFT...SINTON...SKIDMORE...THREE RIVERS...TILDEN AND VICTORIA. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO OCCUR IN OR NEAR THE WATCH AREA. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL THE SIZE OF A DIME OR LARGER...STRONG WINDS OF 58 MPH OR GREATER AND EVEN TORNADOES. EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION. RESIDENTS ACROSS SOUTH TEXAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT AND BE READY TO ACT QUICKLY IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA. IF SEVERE WEATHER THREATENS YOUR AREA...THEN MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM AND LAY DOWN ON THE FLOOR. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...LAY FLAT DOWN ON THE GROUND...PREFERABLY IN A DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT. NEVER TRY TO OUTRUN SEVERE WEATHER. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS REGARDING THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION. FOR THE LATEST WEATHER FORECASTS AND WARNINGS...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/CRP
The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 12 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:20 UTC.
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
One Confirmed fatality and many injuries. The Tornado was first indentified by the public approximately 8 miles south of the CCI airport. Most extensive damage reported across Del MAr College.
Trees down Roofs damaged
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado, Nueces | 2002-10-24 | Male | School | Direct |
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, October 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: 5319564, 5319565.