1 flood, 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 May 16, 2:12 PM EST, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 312 PM EDT THU MAY 16 2002 CURRENTLY...INCREASED MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY HAS ALLOWED SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP OVER THE FA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. VISIBLE SATELLITE...SFC OBS AND 88D RETURNS INDICATE THAT THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE IS DEVELOPING FROM THE BAY AREA SOUTH... WITH A NARROW BAND OF CONVECTION ALREADY DEVELOPING ON IT. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON EXPECT TO SEE ADDITIONAL CONVECTION FIRE OFF...ESPECIALLY CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ZONES WHERE BEST MOISTURE AND SEA BREEZE INTERACTIONS TAKE PLACE. BASED ON THIS WILL CARRY 30% POPS COASTAL/INTERIOR ZONES FROM THE BAY AREA SOUTH...AND 20% FAR NORTH SHORT TERM...NO REAL CHANGES NOTED ON MODEL RUNS THIS AFTERNOON SO AGAIN WILL USE A BLEND. ZONAL FLOW ALOFT WILL TRANSITION TOWARD UPPER TROUGHING ALONG THE EAST COAST AS WE HEAD INTO THE WEEKEND AND NEXT WEEK. AS THIS OCCURS AN UPSTREAM SHORT WAVE TROUGH AN ATTENDANT COLD FRONT WILL SLIDE EAST SOUTHEAST MOVING ACROSS THE SERN GULF STATES ON SATURDAY AND THEN THROUGH THE FA ON SUNDAY. SIMILAR TO YESTERDAY ALL MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW AN INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND AS THE SFC HIGH OVER THE WESTERN ATLANTIC MOVES E-SEWD WITH A SE THEN S-SWLY FLOW DEVELOPING. THE S-SWLY FLOW WILL FAVOR HIGHEST POPS (40-50% RANGE) INTERIOR ZONES BOTH FRIDAY AND SATURDAY IN VICINITY OF THE SEA BREEZE COLLISIONS... THEN WE SHOULD SEE MORE UNIFORM POP COVERAGE ALL ZONES ON SUNDAY AS THE FRONT AND ITS UPPER SUPPORT GETS INTO THE ACT. GUIDANCE TEMPS CONTINUE TO LOOK REASONABLE AND WILL ACCEPT. EXTENDED...(MON-THURS)...LATEST AVN DEPICTS UPPER TROUGHING REMAINING OVER THE EASTERN SEA BOARD THROUGH MUCH OF THE PERIOD. SFC HIGH NOSING SEWD FROM THE GREAT LAKES REGION WILL FAVOR A BREEZY NELY WIND FLOW. SLOW CLEARING TREND STILL DEPICTED TO MOVE INTO THE NRN MOST ZONES ON MONDAY...THOUGH LINGERING MOISTURE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ZONES SHOULD STILL FAVOR SOME LOW POP PREMISE. BY TUESDAY RESIDUAL MOISTURE FINALLY SHIFTS EAST...SO WILL KEEP PARTLY CLOUDY BREEZY WORDING INTACT. TEMPS IN WAKE OF THE FRONT SHOULD BE SIMILAR TO THE LAST FROPA...WITH READING EXPECTED TO BE NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW SEASONAL LEVELS. MARINE...SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE MOVING SLOWLY E-SEWD OVER THE ATLANTIC WILL ALLOW A SOUTHEAST TO SOUTHERLY WIND FLOW TO DEVELOP OVER THE COASTAL WATERS ON FRIDAY WITH A PM SEA BREEZE COMPONENT. THE FLOW WILL THEN BECOME SOUTHWEST ON SATURDAY AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT...SHIFTING INTO THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY IN ITS WAKE WITH WIND AND SEAS LIKELY INCREASING TO SCEC OR LOW END SCA CRITERIA. FIRE WEATHER...MOIST SOUTHEAST TO SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL PRECLUDE THE NEED FOR ANY FIRE WEATHER WATCHES OR RED FLAGS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THANKS FOR COORD KMLB. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS BKV 067/088 069/088 2324 TPA 072/088 073/088 3324 GIF 070/090 072/089 3534 SRQ 070/087 071/087 3324 FMY 071/090 072/090 3334= .TBW...NONE. MCMICHAEL
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
457 PM EDT THU MAY 16 2002
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0415 PM CAPE CORAL FL .50 INCH HAIL
05/16/02 LEE REPORTED BY MEDIA.
0430 PM 15 W MYAKKA HEAD FL .75 INCH HAIL
05/16/02 MANATEE REPORTED BY STORM SPOTTER.
JTDMARINE LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
608 PM EDT THU MAY 16 2002
TIME(EDT) .....MARINE SUBZONE.... GMZ ...EVENT/REMARKS...
......MARINE ZONE......
0548 PM TAMPA BAY 830 34 KT MARINE TSTM WIND
05/16/02 TAMPA BAY WATERS
DSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
3.15 inches of rain fell in less than two hours in the Town 'N' Country section of Northwest Hillsborough County, causing minor urban flooding.
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, May 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: 5291545.