We present Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) PSC and water vapor measurements obtained in the Antarctic stratosphere in 2002, and compare these with POAM measurements from 1993--1996 and 1998--2002 (PSCs) and 1998--2002 (water vapor). Through mid-September 2002 POAM observed significantly fewer PSCs than in other years. However, ice PSC observations were only slightly reduced from previous years, and the dehydration was similar to that observed from 1998--2001. After an unprecedented major warming in September 2002, POAM observed only very few PSCs. This sudden decline in PSC activity in 2002 occurred a full month earlier than in any previous POAM measurement years.