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 21, 1:04 PM EST, 56 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 204 PM EDT WED AUG 21 2002 LIGHT SOUTHEAST FLOW WOULD INDICATE THAT ACTIVITY WILL LINGER INTO THE EVENING. AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY IN THE GULF FROM CONVECTION WEST OF THE GLADES IS PUSHING NORTHEASTWARD AND COULD VERY WELL INTERACT WITH ACTIVITY PUSHING INTO THE FT MYERS AREA RIGHT NOW. IN THE VERY SHORT TERM THIS IS SOMETHING TO KEEP AN EYE ON. I SEE LITTLE CHANGE IN THE WEATHER THROUGH FRIDAY. WE WILL REMAIN IN WEAK SOUTHEAST FLOW WITH THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE TO OUR NORTH. THE WEAK TUTT LOW JUST EAST OF MIAMI WILL DRIFT WEST AND AND ENHANCE CONVECTION A LITTLE ON THURSDAY. MODELS ARE NOT HANDLING THE LOW VERY WELL AND EXTRAPOLATION LOOKS LIKE THE BEST BET. WITH THE 200MB RIDGE ACROSS THE CAROLINAS THERE IS NO REASON THE LOW WILL DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN DRIFT WESTWARD. I WILL GO ABOVE GUIDANCE FOR POPS THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS ESPECIALLY FOR FRIDAY WHEN MOS IS WAY LOW. FOR SATURDAY THE RIDGE BUILDS SOUTH AND THE FLOW GETS REAL LIGHT. FOR NOW SATURDAY AND SUNDAY LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE LIKE YESTERDAY...VERY LIGHT FLOW...HARD TO PIN DOWN TIMING. LOOKS LIKE THE LONG WAVE TROUGH THAT PUSHES THE SURFACE RIDGE SOUTHWARD WILL LIFT OUT INTO THE CANADIAN MARITIMES. THE AVN/MRF RUN WANT TO LEAVE A CUT OFF LOW BEHIND. AS OFTEN IS THE CASE THIS TIME OF YEAR IT LOOKS LIKE THE BEST BET IS TO GO WITH PERSISTENCE FOR THE EXTENDED FORECAST. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS BKV 071/092 071/092 4535 TPA 075/091 076/091 4535 GIF 073/092 073/092 3535 SRQ 074/090 074/090 4535 FMY 074/092 074/092 4535 .TBW...NONE. SOBIEN
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the Punta Gorda Herald building damaging computers and the telephone system.
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: 5310524.