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 17, 1:58 PM EST, 5 hours 17 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 258 PM EDT SAT AUG 17 2002 CURRENTLY...SUFFICIENT HEATING AND INSTABILITY RESULTING IN SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER MY INTERIOR AND SWRN MOST ZONES EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY AND SFC OBS SHOW THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE SLOWLY DEVELOPING (MOST EVIDENT NORTH OF TAMPA) AND AS THE AFTERNOON CONTINUE WE SHOULD SEE ADDITIONAL CONVECTION DEVELOP ON IT. SOUTHEASTERLY STEERING FLOW WILL AGAIN FAVOR BEST COVERAGE OF CONVECTION OVER MY COASTAL ZONES ALONG THE SEA BREEZE...SO WILL WORD FOR HIGHEST POPS (CHANCE CATEGORY) AND TAPER BACK TOWARD INTERIOR ZONES FOR THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. CONVECTION SHOULD AGAIN WIND DOWN AFTER SUNSET WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING...WITH SKIES BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY OVERNIGHT. SHORT TERM(TON-TUES)...MODELS CONTINUE TO BE QUITE CONSISTENT WITH THEIR INDIVIDUAL SOLUTIONS OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS...SO AGAIN WILL USE A BLEND. UPPER RIDGE NEAR KJAX THIS AFTERNOON WELL REMAIN IN CONTROL AS IT MOVE SLOWLY WEST TO THE PANHANDLE REGION BY MONDAY... THEN TO NEAR THE LA/MS BORDERS BY TUESDAY AS WEAK SHORT WAVES MOVE BY TO THE NORTH OF IT. ATTENDANT SURFACE HIGH NEAR THE FL/GA BORDERS WILL PERSIST THROUGH SUNDAY...THEN DRIFT SOUTH TO THE N-CENTRAL PENINSULA ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY AS A WEAK FRONT MOVES INTO THE SERN U.S.. MODELS CONTINUE TO DEPICT VARYING AMOUNTS OF DRYING ALOFT THROUGH THE PERIOD...BUT MODEL TIME HEIGHTS CONTINUE TO SHOW ADEQUATE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BELOW 700MB TO SUPPORT DIURNAL SEA BREEZE DRIVEN CONVECTION EACH DAY THROUGH THE PERIOD. SFC RIDGE AXIS POSITION JUST TO THE NORTH OF THE BAY AREA WILL KEEP AN E-SELY STEERING FLOW IN PLACE...SO WILL WORD FOR HIGHEST POP (50%) COASTAL ZONES...AND 40% INTERIOR EACH DAY. GUIDANCE TEMPS HAVE BEEN DOING QUITE WELL THE LAST FEW DAYS...SO WILL NOT DEVIATE MUCH FROM THEM. EXTENDED(WED-SAT)...LATEST AVN SHOWS VERY LITTLE CHANGES TO ONGOING PATTERN AND DEPICTS LARGE UPPER RIDGE COVERING MUCH OF THE LOWER MS VALLEY AND SERN U.S AND FL THROUGH THE PERIOD. PERSISTENT SFC HIGH ACROSS THE N-CENTRAL PENINSULA WILL CONTINUE TO FAVOR SCATTERED SEA/ LAKE BREEZE DRIVEN CONVECTION EACH DAY THROUGH THE PERIOD MAINLY DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. MARINE...SURFACE HIGH TO THE NORTH SLOWLY SAGGING SOUTH INTO THE N- CENTRAL PENINSULA OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS WILL SUPPORT A LIGHT SELY WIND FLOW AND SLIGHT SEAS WITH DAILY SEA BREEZES DEVELOPING NEAR THE COAST EACH AFTERNOON. NO HIGHLIGHTS ARE EXPECTED. FIRE WEATHER...NO CONCERNS. PRELIMINARY #S BKV 072/092 072/091 2525 TPA 077/091 076/090 2525 GIF 076/094 075/093 2424 SRQ 075/091 075/090 2525 FMY 075/093 075/092 2525 .TBW...NONE. MCMICHAEL
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:17 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning hit the attic of a three story building starting a fire resulting in smoke damage. A second home was struck about 2 miles west, where a thermal imaging camera helped firefighters extinguish a smoldering fire within the walls.
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: 5310516.