Florida, 2001

Lightning Strike in Florida, July 4, 2001

July 4, 2001 · NWS TBW · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jul 4, 8:10 PM EST, 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 8:10 PM EST, 20 minutes before
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
910 PM EDT WED JUL 4 2001

LAST LINGERING TSTMS NOW MOVING ACROSS TAMPA BAY WATERS WITH
MOSTLY SHRA ACROSS HILLSBOROUGH INTO THE INTERIOR COS. ALL
ACTIVITY NOW MOVING ALONG AND WINDING DOWN IN EASTERLY FLOW
AND SHOULD BE NEARLY GONE BY UPDATE TIME( 1030 PM). WILL REMOVE
POPS FROM PUBLIC ZONES AND WORD MARINE ZONES FOR TSTMS ENDING LATE.
OTHERWISE LITTLE CHANGE. WEAK MID/UPPER LEVEL TROUGH AXIS TO
CONTINUE MOVING WEST TONIGHT AS SURFACE RIDGE AXIS STARTS DROPPING
SOUTH...INTO CENTRAL FL DURING THURSDAY.

.TBW...NONE.

RKR/09

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Pinellas

When
July 4, 8:30 PM EST
Where
Pinellas County, Largo
Property damage
$50,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
27.903, -82.739 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning struck and ignited the ceiling of an assisted living facility on the 700 block of Starkey Road in Largo. Clearwater fire officials determined that the lighting initially struck the power cable for the buildings central air conditioning system, traveled down the communications cables, and ignited the ceiling of the 87,000 square foot building.

What these are

Lightning
A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Florida in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, July 2001

Sources

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: 5259862.