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 31, 9:08 AM EST, 5 hours 7 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 1008 AM EDT FRI AUG 31 2001 LOOKS LIKE SURFACE RIDGE AXIS HAS SLIPPED A LITTLE BIT FURTHER SOUTH THIS MORNING AND APPEARS TO BE LOCATED FROM AROUND TAMPA TO NEAR VERO BEACH. MORNING SOUNDING INDICATING MORE MOISTURE THAN YESTERDAY WITH PW NEAR 2.0 AND RATHER WEAK STEERING FLOW FROM THE SOUTH. THEREFORE...ANTICIPATE SLOW NORTHERLY MOVEMENT OF STORMS LIKE YESTERDAY AND WILL LIKELY SEE SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS. IF CLIMATOLOGY IS CORRECT SHOULD SEE FIRST STORMS DEVELOP FROM NORTHERN PINELLAS COUNTY NORTHWARD ALONG WEST COAST SEA BREEZE BY 2 PM AS WELL AS DOWN SOUTH AROUND NAPLES FOLLOWED BY SCATTERED DEVELOPMENT ALONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES AND SEA BREEZE OVER REMAINDER OF ZONES BY LATE AFTERNOON. CURRENT ZONE FORECAST LOOKS OKAY AT THIS TIME AND NO UPDATE PLANNED. COASTAL WATERS ALSO IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE AND NO MAJOR CHANGES PLANNED. .TBW...NONE. PRC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A security guard was injured as he lowered a large flag when lightning struck the steel flag pole at the Tropical Sportswear International store located at 4902 W. Waters Avenue in Tampa. One of guard's boots was blown off his foot as a result of the lightning jolt.
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: 5266325.