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, 1:51 PM EST, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 251 PM EDT FRI AUG 16 2002 CURRENTLY...88D RETURNS DEPICT SOME FAST MOVING SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS MY INTERIOR AND SWRN MOST ZONES. MSAS SFC ANALYSIS DEPICTS A TROPICAL WAVE/INVERTED TROUGH AXIS OFF THE SW FLORIDA COAST. SFC HIGH TO THE NORTHEAST AND THIS WAVE IS HELPING TO MAINTAIN 3MB GRADIENT WHICH SHOULD BE STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD OFF THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE FROM THE BAY AREA SOUTH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON. DESPITE THE LACK OF THE WCSB FROM TAMPA SOUTH...ADEQUATE DAYTIME HEATING AND SUFFICIENT INSTABILITY AND SOME ADDED LIFT FROM THE TROUGH WILL STILL RESULT IN A FAIR AMOUNT OF SHOWERS/TSTMS THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON...WITH BEST CONCENTRATION ALONG COASTAL ZONES DUE TO SELY STEERING FLOW. BASED ON CURRENT 88D MOVEMENT TO THE CONVECTION WILL INTRODUCE AN EVENING SECTION IN THE ZONES TO HANDLE THE EXPECTED PRECIP...WITH THINGS WINDING DOWN AFTER SUNSET WITH SKIES BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY OVERNIGHT. SHORT TERM (TON-MON)...MODELS AGAIN QUITE SIMILAR WITH SYNOPTIC SCALE FEATURES SO WILL USE A BLEND. UPPER RIDGE OFF THE NE FL COAST WILL BUILD SLOWLY OVER THE NORTHERN PENINSULA OVER THE UPCOMING WEEKEND THEN SHIFT FURTHER WEST THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. ATTENDANT SFC HIGH NEAR THE FL/GA BORDERS WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE WEEKEND...THEN SINK SOUTH TO THE NORTH-CENTRAL PENINSULA AS WE HEAD INTO NEXT WEEK AS A COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE SERN STATES BY MONDAY. DEEP LAYERED EAST- SOUTHEAST FLOW AROUND THIS HIGH WILL MAINTAIN A NORMAL SUMMER TIME REGIME WITH SCATTERED LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND TSTMS EXPECTED EACH DAY THROUGH THE PERIOD. MODELS DO DEPICT VARYING AMOUNTS OF DRYING/SUBSIDENCE ALOFT THROUGH THE PERIOD...BUT WITH ADEQUATE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BEING MAINTAINED BELOW 700MB WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP POPS IN THE SCATTERED RANGE VS THE LOWER VALUES BEING DEPICTED BY GUIDANCE. FWC/MAV/MET TEMPS ARE AGAIN VERY CLOSE AND GENERALLY ACCEPTED. EXTENDED(TUES-FRI)...LATEST AVN RUN SIMILAR TO OLDER MRF WHICH SHOWS VERY LITTLE CHANGES TO ONGOING WEATHER PATTERN THROUGH MUCH OF NEXT WEEK WITH SFC HIGH REMAINING ACROSS THE N-CENTRAL PENINSULA. BASED ON THIS WILL KEEP SCATTERED POP WORDING IN PLACE WITH TIMING CONTINUING DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS AS SELY FLOW AND AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES INTERACT. MARINE...SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE TO THE NORTH AND NORTHWESTWARD MOVING TROPICAL WAVE OVER THE SERN GULF WILL RESULT IN SELY WINDS 15 KNOTS WITH A FEW HIGHER GUSTS EARLY TONIGHT...THEN DECREASING TO 10-15 KNOTS OVERNIGHT. ON SATURDAY ANOTHER TROPICAL WAVE WILL BE APPROACHING SIMILAR TO TODAY...WHICH WILL KEEP SE WINDS IN THE 10-15 KNOT RANGE BUT EXPECT TO SEE ANOTHER BRIEF SURGE TO 15 KNOTS SAT EVENING AS THE WAVE MOVES BY. BY SUNDAY AND BEYOND...THE SFC HIGH TO THE NORTH WILL WEAKEN A BIT AS IT SAGS SOUTH AS A COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE SERN STATES ON MONDAY. THIS WILL RESULT IN A WEAKER E-SELY FLOW WITH AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES DEVELOPING ALONG THE COAST DURING EACH AFTERNOON HOURS. NO HIGHLIGHTS EXPECTED. FIRE WEATHER...NO CONCERNS. PRELIMINARY #S BKV 072/092 072/091 2525 TPA 076/092 075/091 2525 GIF 076/094 075/093 2424 SRQ 075/091 074/090 2525 FMY 076/092 075/092 2525 .TBW...NONE. MCMICHAEL
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-162330- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 1153 AM EDT FRI AUG 16 2002 ...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON... DAYTIME HEATING AND ADEQUATE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ALONG WITH A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE MOVING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE PENINSULA WILL HELP TO SET OFF ANOTHER ROUND OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL BEGIN TO DEVELOP OVER INTERIOR LOCATIONS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. AS THE AFTERNOON CONTINUES...ADDITIONAL STORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER COASTAL LOCATIONS. WITH A SOUTHEASTERLY STEERING FLOW THE GREATEST AREAL COVERAGE AND INTENSITY OF STORMS IS EXPECTED TO BE OVER COASTAL LOCATIONS DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. AT THE PRESENT TIME THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE GUSTY WINDS TO 35 MPH...FREQUENT TO EXCESS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES...AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINS. WHEN SKIES DARKEN...MOVE INDOORS. IF THERE IS TIME...UNPLUG APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. WAIT UNTIL THE STORM ENDS BEFORE USING THE TELEPHONE OR RUNNING WATER. MARINERS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR LOCATION...SEEK A SAFE HARBOR IMMEDIATELY. IF CAUGHT IN OPEN WATERS...GO BELOW DECK IF POSSIBLE AND STAY AWAY FROM ALL UNGROUNDED METAL OBJECTS. THE HEAVY RAINS MAY CAUSE MINOR FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE...AND SMALL STREAMS MAY BRIEFLY EXCEED BANK FULL. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE) MCMICHAEL
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning started a fire at a home that was quickly put out.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, August 2002
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: 5310440.