1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 17, 12:55 PM EST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
155 PM EDT TUE APR 17 2001
CURRENTLY: COLD FRONT MOVING INTO NORTHERN FA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON
AND SHOULD CONTINUE MOVING THROUGH THE ENTIRE CWA BY TONIGHT. WIND
WILL INCREASE FURTHER BEHIND THE FRONT. PUTTING UP A RED FLAG WARNING
FOR LEVY COUNTY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY AS DRY AIR WILL WORK
IN RAPIDLY BEHIND THE FRONT.
FORECAST: COOL AND DRY THROUGH THURSDAY WITH MODIFIED ARCTIC AIR
SETTLING INTO THE REGION. TEMPS WILL RUN 10 TO 15 DEGREES BELOW
NORMAL THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. WIND CHILL CRITERIA MIGHT BRIEFLY
BE MET EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...BUT ONLY IN ONE OR TWO SPOTS...SO AN
ADVISORY WILL NOT BE ISSUED. WILL WORD FOR BRISK...HOWEVER...AS
FEELS LIKE VALUES WILL BE A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM AFTER VERY WARM
READINGS THE PAST WEEK.
A PRETTY QUICK WARM UP WILL OCCUR DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY AS
SURFACE HIGH STARTS MOVING OFF THE SOUTHEAST U.S. COAST AND COLD
ADVECTION ABRUPTLY CEASES. NO POPS AND FEW CLOUDS EXPECTED.
MARINE: SCA CONDITION EXPECTED TO BE MET BEHIND THE FRONT TONIGHT
INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY...WITH WINDS SLACKENING A BIT DURING THE
AFTERNOON. WINDS TURN EASTERLY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK WITH
NO HEADLINES EXPECTED.
FIRE WEATHER: WILL HOIST THE FLAG FOR ALL COUNTIES WEDNESDAY. WILL
PROBABLY SEE CRITERIA MET EARLIER THAN USUAL WITH WINDS ABOVE 15 MPH
AND RH VALUES DOWN INTO THE 30S AS SOON AS 10 AM IN SOME PLACES.
CONDITIONS COULD BE QUITE DANGEROUS FOR THE SPREAD OF WILDFIRES
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.
EXTENDED: BACK TO DRY AND WARM WEATHER FOR THE WEEKEND AND INTO
EARLY NEXT WEEK AS TROF IS REPLACED BY A RIDGE AT UPPER LEVELS AND
EAST TO SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW BECOMES ESTABLISHED AT THE SURFACE.
CHANCES FOR RAIN LOOK MEAGER AND WILL LEAVE OUT ANY MENTION OF
SHOWERS.
PRELIM NUMBERS:
TPA 51/72/48/77 0000
FMY 55/77/48/80 0000
.TBW...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY BONITA BEACH TO SUWANNEE RIVER.
...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL SUNSET LEVY...SUMTER...POLK...HARDEE...
HIGHLANDS...DESOTO.
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH UNTIL SUNSET CITRUS...HERNANDO...PASCO...
PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...MANATEE...SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE AND
LEE.
...RED FLAG WARNING ALL COUNTIES WEDNESDAY.
ALSHEIMERFLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-180100- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 300 PM EDT TUE APR 17 2001 ...MUCH COOLER THAN NORMAL WEATHER STARTING TONIGHT... ...INCREASING WILDFIRE SPREAD DANGER WEDNESDAY... A COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING WILL USHER IN A MODIFIED ARCTIC AIR MASS. AS THE COLD AIR MOVES IN OVERNIGHT...WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 15 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THE COMBINATION OF WINDS AND FALLING TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE WELL BELOW NORMAL WIND CHILLS DROPPING AS LOW AS THE 30S IN SOME LOCATIONS OF WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA BY SUNRISE WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH 40S INTO SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. RESIDENTS SHOULD WHERE AN EXTRA LAYER OF CLOTHING OVERNIGHT. BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...TEMPERATURES WILL REBOUND INTO THE 60S AND 70S. THE WARMER TEMPERATURES IN THE DRY AIR MASS WILL CREATE RELATIVE HUMIDITIES INTO THE 20S IN SOME LOCATIONS DURING THE AFTERNOON. THE WIND WILL CONTINUE OUT OF THE NORTH AT 15 TO 20 MPH THROUGH MOST OF THE DAY...ALLOWING ANY WILDFIRES THAT BEGIN TO SPREAD RAPIDLY. ALL RESIDENTS OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA SHOULD USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN HANDLING SOURCES OF SPARKS OR FLAMES... INCLUDING MATCHES...CIGARETTES...AND OUTDOOR BARBECUES...IN THE VICINITY OF DRY BRUSH AND GRASS OR OTHER FLAMMABLE MATERIALS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A controlled burn, that became a wildfire out of control, scorched over 5,000 acres of undeveloped land, destroyed at least one home, and forced an eight mile closure of Interstate 75 between exits 34 and 35, ten miles east of Venice, before it was extinguished.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, April 2001
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: 5241842.