Name: Hail in Florida, July 27, 2002
Start: 2002-07-27T18:15
End: 2002-07-27T18:15
Location: Florida

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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 Jul 27, 2:14 PM EST, 4 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 27, 2:14 PM EST, 4 hours 1 minute before

WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
314 PM EDT SAT JUL 27 2002

AN UPPER LOW OVER HISPANOLA IS MOVING WEST...SIMILAR TO AN AVN
SOLUTION.  DRY MID AND UPPER LEVEL AIR WILL STRETCH ACROSS THE
SOUTHERN COUNTIES.  THE UPPER LOW IS RAPPING SOME MOISTURE AROUND IT
THAT HAS NOW WORKED INTO THE NORTHERN BAHAMAS.  MODELS WASH OUT THE
DRY AIR SO I WILL DECREASE POPS ONLY A LITTLE INLAND AND IN THE
SOUTH.

THE CONVECTION OVER THE GULF THAT HAS BEEN GROWING IN AREAL COVERAGE
ALL DAY LONG SEEMS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH SOME UPPER DIFLUENCE.
THIS SHOULD MOVE WESTWARD AS THE UPPER LOW PUSHES WEST.  THEREFORE
OTHER THAN INCREASED ACTIVITY OVER THE SOUTHERN COASTAL WATERS
TONIGHT IT WILL HAVE LITTLE IMPACT ON OUR AREA.

MONDAY...SOME MOISTURE RETURNS AND I SLOWLY UP THE POPS A LITTLE.
AN EASTERLY WAVE STARTS TO SPREAD DEEP MOISTURE BACK ACROSS THE
STATE LATE MONDAY BUT MORE LIKE TUESDAY.  THE RIDGE AXIS STAYS OVER
NORTH OR CENTRAL FLORIDA THROUGH TUESDAY WHICH WILL KEEP THE BEST
LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ALONG THE WEST COAST.

BY WEDNESDAY A FRONT WANTS TO PUSH INTO GEORGIA...NUDGING THE
SUBTROPICAL RIDGE SOUTHWARD.  WEDNESDAY WILL BE THE TRANSITION DAY...
BUT BY THURSDAY WE WILL BE SOLIDLY INTO THE WESTERLIES.  I WILL
REMOVE TIMING OF CONVECTION FROM THE FORECAST AND INCREASE LOW
TEMPERATURES AND DECREASE HIGHS ALONG THE COASTAL AREAS FOR
THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...

BKV 072/092 071/092 3424
TPA 076/091 076/090 3424
GIF 075/093 075/092 2424
SRQ 075/091 075/091 2324
FMY 076/092 076/092 2324

.TBW...NONE.

SOBIEN

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 27, 5:32 PM EST, 43 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN  FL
632 PM EDT SAT JUL 27 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0435 PM    TAMPA                     FL   WIND DAMAGE
07/27/02   HILLSBOROUGH                   A FEW OAK TREES BLOWN DOWN
                                          AT 15TH AVE AND 131ST ST.
                                          REPORTED BY WTVT

0535 PM    WEBSTER                   FL   TORNADO
07/27/02   SUMTER                         SMALL TORNADO RELAYED FROM
                                          SUMTER COUNTY SHERIFF FROM
                                          A PRIVATE CITIZEN. DAMAGE
                                          TO A BARN AND SEVERERAL
                                          TREES AND POWER LINES BLOWN
                                          DOWN

DS

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:14 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Polk

When: July 27, 6:15 PM EST
Where: Polk County, Mulberry
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 27.900, -81.983

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Florida in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, July 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: 5303312.