1 blizzard, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 28, 7:50 PM PST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA 850 PM PDT TUE MAY 28 2002 .SYNOPSIS...A COLD FRONT OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON THIS EVENING WILL MOVE EAST OF THE CASCADES TONIGHT...WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS LINGERING INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BEGIN BUILDING OVER THE AREA WEDNESDAY AND WILL CONTINUE OVER OR NEAR THE AREA THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THIS WILL WILL BRING PARTLY SUNNY DAYS AND SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. .DISCUSSION...SATELLITE/RADAR IMAGERY SEEM TO INDICATE THE COLD FRONT IS INLAND OVER WRN WA THIS EVENING. BACK EDGE OF THE COLD FRONT IS MESSY...MAKING IT RATHER HARD TO PIN DOWN. SCT SHOWERS STILL GOING ON ALONG THE COAST IN SOME LOWER CLOUDS BEHIND THE MAIN FRONT...AND LOOKS LIKE A FEW MORE CONVECTIVE CELLS HAVE FORMED OVER THE OLYMPICS AND THEN DRIFTED NE...FILLING IN THE RAIN SHADOW TO THE NE OF THE OLYMPICS. WITH SUCH A SHOWERY LOOKING PATTERN SHOWING UP ON RADAR WL REWORD ZONES AS SHOWERS AND EASE THE POPS BACK TO LIKELY. REMAINDER OF THE THE FORECAST LOOKS FINE WITH SCATTERED MORNING SHOWERS AND PARTLY SUNNY WED AFTN. STILL APPEARS TO BE A CHANCE OF PSCZ SHOWERS UP OVER THE N INTERIOR AT LEAST EARLY ON WED. BIG DIFFERENCE IN FCST HIGHS FOR WED BETWEEN AVN AND NGM MOS. ETA IS MORE IN THE MIDDLE AND LOOKS A LITTLE BETTER. NO CHANGES HERE. KAM UIL 8411 SEA 7411 OLM 7411 .SEW...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ALL WATERS. .KATX...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.
1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
3 climbers lost their lives near the top of Mt Rainier when high winds destroyed their tents and collapsed their snow caves.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blizzard, E King/E Pierce/E Lewis | 2002-05-29 | 21 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Blizzard, E King/E Pierce/E Lewis | 2002-05-29 | 26 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Blizzard, E King/E Pierce/E Lewis | 2002-05-29 | 26 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, May 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: 5291420.