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 6, 8:20 AM EST, 35 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 920 AM EDT TUE AUG 6 2002 LITTLE CHANGES PLANNED FOR MORNING UPDATE. WE REMAIN BETWEEN SYSTEMS IN THE AREA...SO JUST ISOLATED TO SCATTERED CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TODAY...WITH BEST CHANCES INLAND AND SOUTH WHERE BEST SURFACE CONVERGENCE WILL RESIDE. WILL JUST CLEAN UP THE WORDING. .TBW...NONE. ALSHEIMER
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-061400- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 530 AM EDT TUE AUG 6 2002 SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR AT THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE SOUTHWARD INTO AREAS WELL NORTH OF THE TAMPA BAY REGION BY THIS AFTERNOON. THIS MEANS ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY FROM ROUGHLY BROOKSVILLE NORTHWARD. ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA...CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE A LITTLE HIGHER. ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM OVER THE EASTERN GULF WATERS EARLY THIS MORNING...THEN MOVE TOWARD THE COASTAL COUNTIES OF WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA BY LATER IN THE MORNING AND INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON. LOW LEVEL WINDS ARE AGAIN EXPECTED TO BE NORTHWEST...WHICH WILL HELP PUSH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INLAND AND REDEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON EARLY EVENING. THE BEST CHANCES FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE GENERALLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM LAKE WALES IN EASTERN POLK COUNTY...TO VENICE IN SARASOTA COUNTY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE TODAY. HOWEVER... ANY STRONGER STORMS...ESPECIALLY OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN INTERIOR COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON...COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OF 2 TO 3 INCHES AND GUSTY WINDS OF UP TO 30 MPH. REMEMBER...ALL THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. MORALES
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:54 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 39 year old painter was found unconscious after being struck by lightning. A nearby woman also felt the affects of the lightning but refused treatment.
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: 5310434.