1 lightning, 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 Aug 16, 1:09 PM EST, 2 hours 21 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 209 PM EDT THU AUG 16 2001 LIKE YESTERDAY THE DETERMINING FACTOR IN OUR WEATHER WILL BE THE LOCATION OF THE DEEP LAYER RIDGE. BEST I CAN TELL THE RIDGE WILL MEANDER NORTH AND SOUTH OVER THE FORECAST AREA. WE ALSO HAVE A WAVE PRETTY MUCH STATIONARY OVER THE STATE AND STRETCHING OUT. THE MODELS I LOOKED AT YESTERDAY WERE PRETTY USELESS FOR TODAY BUT 12 RUNS ARE SHOWING INCREASED DEEP MOISTURE WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES NEAR OR OVER 2 INCHES THROUGH THE PERIOD. VERY LIGHT NONDESCRIPT FLOW FROM THE SURFACE THROUGH AT LEAST 500 MB DUE TO THE RIDGE SITTING OVER US. SO THE FORECAST WILL CHANGE LITTLE THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS AND I WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY IT AS SUCH. THIS INCLUDES THE MARINE FORECAST. WITH THE SURFACE RIDGE MOVING VERY LITTLE WINDS WILL BE GENERALLY LIGHT AND VARIABLE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS. LONGER TERM...THE LONG WAVE TROUGH THAT THE AVN HAD DIGGING WELL SOUTH INTO THE CENTRAL GULF HAS NOW BACKED OFF QUITE A BIT. THATS BAD NEWS IF YOU WANT THE RAIN...BUT GOOD NEWS BECAUSE YESTERDAYS RUNS HAD THE TROUGH DIGGING SOUTH AROUND THE SAME TIME CHANTAL WAS APPROACHING THIS LONGITUDE. I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED PORTIONS OF THE FORECASTS...EXCEPT TO MENTION THE STORM IN THE SYNOPSIS OF THE MARINE FORECAST. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS TPA BB 079/091 079/091 078 2424 FMY BB 077/092 077/092 077 2424 .TBW...NONE. SOBIEN
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:31 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 40 year old male was shocked and injured by the sideflash of a nearby lightning strike while cleaning the hole of a septic tank on Nautilis Drive in Sebring. The victim was ejected out of the septic tank ground hole and incurred minor injuries.
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, August 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: 5266426.