Scattered thunderstorms with frequent lightning and high winds moved through Spotsylvania and King George counties between 3:30 and 5 PM EDT. In Spotsylvania County, trees and power lines were downed, mainly in and around Fredericksburg.
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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 episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms with frequent lightning and high winds moved through Spotsylvania and King George counties between 3:30 and 5 PM EDT. In Spotsylvania County, trees and power lines were downed, mainly in and around Fredericksburg. On tree fell onto a home on Parker Street. A spotter in Fredericksburg estimated 55 MPH winds with the storm. Several Spotsylvania County structure fires were attributed to the frequent lightning that accompanied the storm. In King George County, a few trees were downed and a few power outages were reported in King George.
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 Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 24, 12:45 PM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON 145 PM EDT SAT AUG 24 2002 TNGT AND SUN... ALL MDLS CUTTING BACK ON CHCS OF PCPN TNGT. NGM HAS A PALTRY 10 POP...ETA HIGHEST W/ A WHOPPING 30 POP. STILL AM NOT WILLING TO DISCOUNT CHC OF TRW THRU ARND MIDNIGHT AS LOW LVL ATMOSPHERE IS XTMRLY MOIST...AND WE ARE RECEIVING SOME AFTN SUN AHEAD OF THE FNT. SPEAKING OF THE FNT...APPEARING LIKE JUST A GRADUAL WINDSHIFT W/ RATHER WK DYNAMICS AHEAD OF IT. SPC THOTS ARE A FEW STRONG/ISLD SVR ARE PSBL...WHICH SEEMS LIKE THE LKLY SCENARIO TO ME...BUT NOT ENUF TO OUTLOOKED SVR. BY 06Z ALL MDLS HAVE FNT LEAVING THE CST. XPCTG SCT-BKN CU THRU SUNDAY...NW WINDS - PSBLY A PD OF 15-20 KT BUT CAA IS RATHER SHORTLIVED W/ THIS EVENT. TEMPS NEAR/SLGTLY ABV CLIMO AVGS. WOODY LONG TERM...SUN NGT THRU NEXT SAT... UPR LVL TROF OVR THE NE U.S. WILL LIFT OUT SUN NGT AND MON. HOWEVER...ENERGY OVR THE NW U.S. WILL DROP ESE ALG THE TOP OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE FORMING A H5 CUTOFF OVR TN/KY MON. THIS UPR LVL LOW WILL BE TRAPPED BETWEEN THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE OVR THE SW U.S. AND THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE OFF THE ATLC COAST TUE AND WED THEN FINALLY DRIFT OFF THE W AND WEAKEN THU AND FRI AS THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE OFF THE ATLC COAST BUILDS WWD INTO THE AREA. WEAK HIGH PRES WILL DOMINATE SUN NGT INTO MON. SFC LOW WILL FORM OVR TN BY TUE IN RESPONSE IMPULSES ROTATING AROUND THE UPR LVL LOW. THIS LOW WILL MOVE SLOWLY NWD ON THE E SIDE OF THE UPR LVL SYSTEM DRAGGING A WMFNT NWD THRU THE AREA WED/. FRONT WILL MOVE TO THE N OF THE AREA THU. EXPECT M/CLR SKIES SUN NGT WITH AN INCREASE IN CLOUDS MON THROUGH TUE AS HIGH LVL MOISTURE IS DRAWN NWD INTO THE AREA FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO. BY LATE TUE THROUGH WED...OVERRUNNING/ISENTROPIC LIFT DVLPS OVR THE AREA AND DEEP MOISTURE IS DRAWN NWD FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO AS WMFNT PULLS NWD ACRS THE AREA. THE RESULT WILL BE RA OVR THE AREA. GIVEN THAT THIS EVENT IS IN THE EXTENDED PD...PREFER TO KEEP JUST CHC POPS NOW. HOWEVER...IF THE SITUATION PANS OUT...LATER SHIFTS MAY BE ABLE TO GO WITH LIKELY POPS. PCPN WILL BECOME MORE SCT AND CONVECTIVE IN NATURE THU THRU FRI AS SUBTROPICAL RIDGE BUILDS WWD INTO THE AREA AND UPR LVL LOW WEAKENS AND DRIFTS WWD. WILL LIMIT SCT ACTIVITY TO THE AFT/EVE HOURS THU AND FRI DUE TO HEATING. CDFNT WILL MOVE THROUGH SAT MORNING...LIKELY DRY SO ONLY 20 POPS ON SAT. TEMPS STILL WARM MON. A LTL COOLER TUE WITH E FLOW AND EVEN COOLER FOR WED WITH RA AND E FLOW. WARMER THU AND FRI AS FLOW TURNS S AND WE SEE MORE SUNSHINE. MAYBE A TAD COOLER SAT BEHIND CDFNT. WALSTON .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE.
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:57 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees and power lines were downed. One tree fell onto a home on Parker Street.
Several fires were started by lightning strikes.
Several fires were started by lightning strikes.
A few trees were downed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, August 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: 5314176, 5314387, 5314388, 5314389.