Heat in Virginia, July 28 to 29, 2002

Name: Heat in Virginia, July 28 to 29, 2002
Start: 2002-07-28T10:00
End: 2002-07-29T20:00
Location: Virginia

July 28 to 29, 2002 · NWS LWX · 22 events in 22 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 19 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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: 22

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 LWX wrote it up.

A large area of high pressure sat off the Mid-Atlantic coast during the last week of July. This caused a warm and moist south wind to blow into the region for several days, resulting in another heat wave. The hottest days were the 28th and 29th of July when temperatures rose into the 90s and heat index values reached 100 to 110 degrees. Power companies reported record electricity use on the 29th. Several jurisdictions reported an increase of emergency room visits due to the heat.

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 Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 28, 9:40 AM EST, 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 28, 9:40 AM EST, 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON
1040 AM EDT SUN JUL 28 2002

HEAT ADVIS/EXCESSIVE HEAT WRNG ON TRACK LATE THIS AM. TEMPS AT 14Z
WERE IN THE 80S W/DWPTS IN 70S. H85 TEMP AT IAD THIS AM WAS +19 DEG
C. MDLS PREDICT THIS TEMP TO REACH +21 DEG C BY DAY/S END. MIXG THIS
DOWN DRY ADIABATICALLY YIELDS MAX TEMP OF 96 DEG F. CURRENT FCST IN
M90S LUKS GUD.

MDL SDNGS SUGGEST A LAYER OF CU WL DVLP THIS AFTERNOON OVR RGN. CU
WAS ALREADY PRESENT THIS AM OVR POTOMAC HIGHLANDS. EARLIER THIS
AM...MID LVL S/W BROUGHT SRN END OF LN SHRAS/TSRAS THRU FAR NE FA. A
FEW LOW CLDS LINGERED OVR THIS AREA LATE THIS AM. P/S STILL LUKS GUD
FOR AFTN. DOWNSLOPE FLOW WL CONTRIBUTE TO WARMG OF LOW LVLS THIS
AFTN BUT THIS WARMG WL BE OFFSET SOMEWHAT BY CLD CVR.

MODIFIED SDNG SHOWED B+ CLIMBING TO OVR 4000 J/KG THIS AFTN AND LI/S
ARND -7 DEG C. BEST CHC/S FOR ANY CONVECTION WUD BE OVR RIDGES AND
NEAR BAY ALG BAY BREEZE BDRY. WL CONFINE MENTION OF TSRAS TO THESE
RGNS.

.LWX...
DC...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING THRU TUE FOR ZONE DCZ001.

MD...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING THRU TUE FOR ZONE MDZ011.
HEAT ADVISORY THRU TUE FOR ZONES MDZ002>007...MDZ009>010...
MDZ013>014...MDZ016>018.

VA...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING THRU TUE FOR ZONE VAZ054.
HEAT ADVISORY THRU TUE FOR ZONES VAZ025>031...VAZ036>042...
VAZ050>053...VAZ055>057.

WV...HEAT ADVISORY THRU TUE FOR ZONES WVZ048>053...WVZ055.

ARTHUR

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

22 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Arlington

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Arlington forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.855, -77.106 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Fairfax

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Fairfax forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.841, -77.291 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Prince William

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Prince William forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Stafford

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Stafford forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.421, -77.457 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, King George

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: King George forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.274, -77.156 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Spotsylvania

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Spotsylvania forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.244, -77.558 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Orange

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Orange forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.246, -78.013 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Greene

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Greene forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.298, -78.467 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Madison

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Madison forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.414, -78.279 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Culpeper

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Culpeper forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.486, -77.956 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Rappahannock

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Rappahannock forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.685, -78.159 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Fauquier

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Fauquier forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Loudoun

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Loudoun forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Clarke

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Clarke forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.112, -77.997 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Frederick

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Frederick forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.195, -78.213 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Warren

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Warren forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.909, -78.207 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Page

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Page forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.620, -78.484 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Shenandoah

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Shenandoah forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.858, -78.571 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Rockingham

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Rockingham forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.481, -78.872 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Albemarle

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Albemarle forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.029, -78.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Augusta

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Augusta forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.109, -78.974 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Nelson

When: July 28, 10:00 AM EST to July 29, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Nelson forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 37.787, -78.887 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Virginia in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Virginia, July 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: 5308250, 5308251, 5308252, 5308253, 5308254, 5308255, 5308256, 5308257, 5308335, 5308336, 5308337, 5308338, 5308339, 5308340, 5308341, 5308342, 5308343, 5308344, 5308345, 5308346, 5308347, 5308348.