1 funnel cloud, 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 Oct 12, 12:08 PM EST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 108 PM EDT SAT OCT 12 2002 CURRENTLY: STATE RADARS SHOWING A FEW SHOWERS DEVELOPING ALONG EAST COAST SEA BREEZE, AND WE EVEN HAVE A SHOWER FORMING IN THE VICINITY OF CEDAR KEY PRESENTLY. ACTIVITY SHOULD INCREASE WITH TIME AS DAYTIME HEATING WORKS ON DECENT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FIELDS. SCATTERED POPS ALL AREAS LOOKS GOOD FOR THIS AFTERNOON. FORECAST: IT LOOKS PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD THROUGH SUNDAY. VERY WEAK PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL ALLOW FOR A CONTINUATION OF LIGHT WINDS... INFERRING AFTERNOON AND EVENING SEA BREEZE CONVECTION ALONG WITH SOME PATCHY MORNING FOG NORTH AND CENTRAL, ESPECIALLY WHERE IT RAINS. TEMPS REMAINING ABOVE NORMAL. THE SITUATION GETS COMPLICATED FOR THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. ALL MODELS SHOW DEVELOPMENT/MOVEMENT OF A LOW PRESSURE AREA IN THE NORTHWEST CARIBBEAN...WITH A CENTER OF CIRCULATION SOMEWHERE WEST OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. MEANWHILE, A FRONT STALLS OUT JUST TO OUR NORTH BY MONDAY MORNING AS ONE AREA OF UPPER LEVEL ENERGY LIFTS OUT. WE SHOULD BE SITTING BETWEEN THE TWO SYSTEMS, SO SCATTERED DIURNAL CONVECTION STILL LOOKS GOOD. BY TUESDAY, A WEAK SURFACE WAVE BEGINS TO DEVELOP ON THE FRONT TO OUR NORTH AND MOVE ACROSS NORTH FLORIDA, WHILE THE TROPICAL LOW MOVES TOWARDS THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS. AVN HAS TROPICAL SYSTEM AS FAR NORTHWEST AS MIAMI, BUT WITH TROF SITTING OVER THE GULF, THAT MAY BE A BIT TOO FAR NORTHWEST. WILL PLAY FOR THE FRONT AND WAVE TO THE NORTH BEING THE MAIN WEATHER MAKER FOR THE AREA. THIS WOULD GIVE THE NORTH LIKELY POPS TUESDAY, WITH HIGH END SCATTERED CENTRAL AND SOUTH. THE FRONT STARTS MAKING ITS MOVE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THE NORTH, PASSING THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE FA WEDNESDAY. DELIGHTFULLY DRIER AND COOLER AIR ARE EXPECTED FOR THE END OF THE WEEK BEHIND THE FRONT. MARINE: ASSUMING THE DEVELOPING TROPICAL SYSTEM BEHAVES AS PLANNED, HIGHLITES ARE NOT EXPECTED UNTIL AFTER THE FRONT GOES THROUGH IN THE COLD ADVECTION. WINDS AND SEAS WILL BE A LITTLE CHAOTIC ON TUESDAY NEAR CONVECTION, HOWEVER. PRELIM NUMBERS: BKV 69/89/70/87 2435 TPA 74/90/74/87 2325 GIF 72/90/73/87 2325 SRQ 72/89/73/87 2325 FMY 73/90/73/88 3435 .TBW...NONE. ALSHEIMER
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-121500- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 545 AM EDT SAT OCT 12 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: ...SCATTERED LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY FROM TAMPA BAY SOUTH... AN INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL BE LIFTED BY THE COLLISION OF THE GULF COAST SEA BREEZE AND WEAK EASTERLY FLOW...PRODUCING SOME THUNDERSTORMS LATER TODAY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER INTERIOR WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA BY MID AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS WILL CONTAIN A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES AND A BRIEF DOWNPOUR. AFTER 5 PM...MORE ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE COASTAL COUNTIES FROM TAMPA BAY SOUTH. THESE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING STORMS WILL CONTAIN OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. STRONGER CELLS MAY PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 30 MPH. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE AROUND OR SOON AFTER SUNSET. REMEMBER...WHEN SKIES DARKEN...MOVE INDOORS. IF THERE IS TIME...UNPLUG APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. WAIT UNTIL THE STORM ENDS BEFORE USING THE TELEPHONE OR RUNNING WATER. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS ALL OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA SUNDAY. A FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL SLOWLY CROSS THE AREA LATER MONDAY AND TUESDAY...INCREASING THE CHANCES FOR MORE THUNDERSTORMS. THE PRIMARY HAZARD FROM THE SYSTEM WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL LATE MONDAY THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY. SOME STORMS AHEAD OF THE FRONT COULD BECOME STRONG ON MONDAY. DRIER AND COOLER AIR WILL FOLLOW THE FRONT BY WEDNESDAY. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW BSG
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:45 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Funnel cloud reported by the Air Traffic Control Center at the Clearwater/St. Petersburg airport.
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, October 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: 5318885.