Lightning, Pinellas
- When
- August 19, 12:20 PM EST
- Where
- Pinellas County, Pinellas Park
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
- Coordinates
- 27.903, -82.739 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning caused a house fire.
Lightning Strike in Florida, August 19, 2002
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $25,000
- 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 Aug 19, 8:30 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 19, 8:30 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes before
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 930 AM EDT MON AUG 19 2002 LATEST LAPS STREAMLINE ANALYSIS PLACES THE SFC RIDGE AXIS JUST NORTH OF THE LAKE EARLY THIS MORNING WITH SFC OBS INDICATING A LIGHT SELY FLOW ACROSS MY SRN ZONES...NEAR CALM CENTRAL...AND LIGHT S-SWLY TO THE NORTH. POSITION OF RIDGE AXIS WILL FAVOR AN EARLY ONSET TO THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE TODAY...MOVING INLAND FASTER TO THE NORTH AND HANGING CLOSER TO THE COAST AS ONE MOVES SOUTH. 12Z RAOB DATA INDICATES FAIRLY UNIFORM PWS (2) THROUGHOUT...SO SHOULD SEE ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS/STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AS MESO- SCALE BOUNDARY INTERACTIONS TAKE PLACE. WEAK AND CHAOTIC STEERING FLOW CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ZONES WILL FAVOR STORMS PROPAGATING ALONG SEA/LAKE/OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES...WHILE FURTHER NORTH A SLIGHTLY BETTER SW-WLY STEERING WILL PUSH CONVECTION TOWARD INLAND LOCATIONS. IN ADDITION SLOW MOVING CELLS WILL FAVOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. ONGOING ZONES SEEM TO HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON THIS SO NO UPDATES ARE PLANNED. MARINE...SFC RIDGE POSITION WILL SUPPORT LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS AND SLIGHT SEAS OVER THE COASTAL WATERS THIS AFTERNOON. OTHER THAN MINOR WIND WORDING ADJUSTMENTS TO FIT THE AFTERNOON...NO CHANGES EXPECTED. .TBW...NONE. MCMICHAEL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:18 UTC.
Event by event
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Lightning Strike in Mississippi, August 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Texas, August 19, 2002
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in North Carolina, August 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, August 19, 2002
- Flash Flood in Florida, August 19, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Indiana, August 19, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in South Carolina, August 19, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Illinois, August 19, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, August 19, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Illinois, August 19, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, August 19, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Mississippi, August 19, 2002
More
Every storm in Florida in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, August 2002
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: 5310521.