Alert archive / Florida / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 8, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

June 23, 2003Lee County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this flash flood warning at Jun 23, 2003, 11:03 AM EDT for Lee County, Florida. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 23, 2003, 11:03 AM EDT (15:03 UTC)
Expired: Jun 23, 2003, 2:00 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Lee County, FL

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 135 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 596 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -24 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 702 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WGUS52 KTBW 231506
FFWTBW
FLC071-231800-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
1103 AM EDT MON JUN 23 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  LEE COUNTY IN FLORIDA.

  FLOODING WILL AFFECT THE FOLLOWING CITIES.
  LEHIGH ACRES.
  FORT MYERS.

* UNTIL 200 PM EDT

* AT 1103 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED  
  RAINFALL RATES OF THREE INCHES OR MORE PER HOUR.

AT 1103 AM EDT...LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS ALSO REPORTED FLOODING 
ALONG BURNT STORE ROAD WHICH RESULTED IN IT BEING CLOSED FROM THE 
CHARLOTTE COUNTY LINE TO KISMET PARKWAY. NUMEROUS OTHER SIDE ROADS 
ARE IMPASSIBLE.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS AND
INTERSECTIONS. POOR DRAINAGE AREAS ARE MOST AT RISK. DO NOT DRIVE 
THROUGH FLOODED ROADS.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...
AND SOME COUNTRY ROADS. FARMLAND ALONG STREAM BANKS WILL BE
INUNDATED. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

DONT BECOME A STATISTIC. TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN 
&&

LAT...LON 2676 8184 2664 8208 2638 8178 2652 8150

$$

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jun 23, 9:45 AM EDT, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 23, 9:45 AM EDT, 1 hour 18 minutes before

WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
945 AM EDT MON JUN 23 2003

CURRENTLY...EXPECT AREAS OF LOW LEVEL STRATUS/FOG ALONG AND NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 4 TO BURN OFF THIS AFTERNOON. FURTHER ALOFT...WATER VAPOR
LOOP SHOWED DRY AIR ALOFT NORTH OF A TAMPA TO NASA LINE MOVING SOUTH
AT 12 KTS. DIFFLUENCE ALOFT HAS AIDED A LINE OF STORMS ACROSS
SOUTHERN COASTAL WATERS AND LEE/CHARLOTTE COUNTIES. RADAR SHOWED
THREE HOUR RAIN FALL TOTALS OF 3 TO 4 INCHES BETWEEN FORT MYERS TO
CAPTIVA. THE LINE OF MODERATE TO HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS HAD SOME
TRAINING FROM THE GULF BUT THE LINE CONTINUED TO SAG SOUTH.
ELSEWHERE...SCATTERED SHOWERS EXTENDED FROM PINELLAS COUNTY TO THE
NORTHWEST. 12Z SOUNDING SHOWED SUBSIDENCE AND DRYING ABOVE 550 MB
BUT THE PRECIP WATER WAS STILL 1.91 INCHES. MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY
REMAIN WITH A LIFTED INDEX OF -3. WILL LOWER POPS TO 10-20% ACROSS
NORTHERN HALF OF FORECAST AREA...OTHERWISE NO CHANGES.

HEAVIEST AND MOST WIDESPREAD RAIN TO BE IN THE FORT MYERS AREA EARLY
THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE SAGGING SOUTH. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
EXPECTED SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 4 AND ISOLATED STORMS POSSIBLE TO THE
NORTH. WILL KEEP FLOOD WATCH AS IS DUE TO SATURATED GROUND AND
EXPECTED THUNDERSTORMS...BUT DO NOT EXPECT WIDESPREAD PROBLEMS.

MARINE...WINDS LESS THAN 15 KTS SO NO PROBLEMS EXPECTED OUTSIDE OF
THUNDERSTORMS. EXPECT DECREASING ACTIVITY ACROSS SOUTHERN WATERS AND
ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ELSEWHERE.

FIRE WEATHER...NO HIGHLIGHTS.

.TBW...FLOOD WATCH TODAY FOR PASCO...PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...
       POLK...MANATEE...SARASOTA...HARDEE...DESOTO...HIGHLANDS...
       CHARLOTTE AND LEE COUNTIES.

NOAH

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 23, 6:00 AM EDT, 5 hours 3 minutes before

FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-231500-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
600 AM EDT MON JUN 23 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY:

...A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PASCO...PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...
POLK...MANATEE...SARASOTA...HARDEE...DESOTO...HIGHLANDS...CHARLOTTE
AND LEE COUNTIES TODAY...

THE DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE HAS SHIFTED SOUTH ACROSS SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA AND THIS COMBINED WITH WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL
CAUSE PERIODS OF RAIN AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP.

WIDESPREAD RAINS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES...WITH LOCALLY 6 INCHES...IS
LIKELY AGAIN TODAY IN LOCATIONS GENERALLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM
SARASOTA TO LAKE OKEECHOBEE.  ANY ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL MAY
CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS...INCLUDING WIDESPREAD FRESHWATER FLOODING.
SUCH FLOODING COULD CLOSE DOZENS OF ROADS...INCLUDING A FEW MAJOR
THOROUGHFARES...AND FLOOD PASTURE LAND.

IN ADDITION...THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL POSE A THREAT OF STRONG GUSTY
WINDS UP TO 35 MPH AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY:

THE REGION WILL SEE A RETURN TO MORE TYPICAL SUMMERTIME WEATHER WITH
ISOLATED TO SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS
EACH DAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE REGION.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT
HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW

PRC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 23, 4:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Pasco	26 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Florida, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.