A thunderstorm with very heavy rainfall sat over Grant county for several hours. Radar estimated rainfall totals in excess of 4 inches in the Buffalo Creek Basin.
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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.
A thunderstorm with very heavy rainfall sat over Grant county for several hours. Radar estimated rainfall totals in excess of 4 inches in the Buffalo Creek Basin.
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 May 29, 3:00 AM EST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON 400 AM EDT WED MAY 29 2002 TDY THRU THU... BERMUDA HIGH PRES RDG AND WARM HUMID AMS WL CONT OVR MID ATLC RGN TDY. SE FLOW WL PROVIDE LIFT IN UPSLOPE AREAS AND WL PRODUCE ANOTHER ROUND OF TSRA/S OVR WRN FA THIS AFTN AND EVE. THERE WL BE POTENTIAL FOR SOME TSRA/S TO PRODUCE FLASH FLDG OVR WRN AREAS AS THETA-E RDG WL BE OVR THIS AREA AND PCP H20/S WL BE OVR AN INCH. ALSO...STORMS WL BE MOVG SLOWLY DUE TO WK FLOW ALOFT. SINCE AREA FM SHEN VLLY WWD RECVD HVY RAFL YEST...WL PLACE THIS AREA UNDER FFA FOR THIS AFTN AND EVE. EXPECT STORMS TO DISSIPATE W/LOSS OF AFTN HTG TNGT. WL MENTION FOG THIS AM AND AGN LATE TNGT. THU LUKS SIM TO TDY. HOWEVER...CSTL LOW MOVG NWD MAY STRENGTHEN RDGG OVR MID ATLC WHICH WUD LESSEN CHC FOR TSRA/S. WL CONT W/PC FCST FOR NOW AND HV HIDDEN 20 POP. MAV/FWC TEMPS WERE SIMILAR AND SEEMED RSNBL. WL HV MAX TEMPS 80-85 AND MINS NR 60. MAXES WL NOT BE AS HIGH IN SE ZONES DUE TO FLOW OFF WATER. WRN AREAS WL ALSO BE A LITTLE COOLER DUE TO PCPN. ARTHUR THU NIGHT THRU TUE...MODLS SEEM TO HAVE CONSENSUS ON HAVNG ATLNTC SFC OVER EASTERN CAROLINA THU NIGHT... BUT THERE HAS BEEN CONSENSUS BEFORE ON THIS LOW. IN ANY CASE... DON/T THINK IT WILL BE MORE THAN A BIT PLAYER IN OUR WEATHER THU NIGHT AND FRI. MAIN FEATURE WILL BE A COLD FRONT MOVNG THRU ON FRI. THIS FRONT WILL EITHER TAP OR BE ROBBED OF MOISTURE BY THE ATLNTC LOW. WILL KEEP MUCH OF THE EXTNDED FORECAST AS IS WITH CHC POPS FRI AND FRI NIGHT...THEN CLRNG FOR THE WEEKEND. 850MB TMPS DROP A FEW DEGS ON SAT TO AROUND 12C FROM 16C... SO NOT VERY COOL BUT BREEZY AND DRIER. SUN STARTS OFF NICE THEN A WARM FRONT APPCHS FROM THE WEST SUN NIGHT. USNG THE 00Z AVN IT APPRS THAT WE WILL ONLY CATCH THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE AREA OF OVERRUNNG. LOW PASSES TO OUR N DURING MON AND TRAILING COLD FRONT HANGS UP OVER THE MIDATLNC ON TUE. STRONG .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...FLOOD WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES MDZ002>003. VA...FLOOD WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES VAZ021...VAZ025>031. WV...FLOOD WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES WVZ048>055.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Radar estimated 4 to 8 inches of rainfall in the Buffalo Creek Basin.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in West Virginia in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in West Virginia, 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: 5298307.