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 Oct 13, 1:18 PM EST, 1 hour 42 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 218 PM EDT SUN OCT 13 2002 ALREADY HAD A PULSE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN LEVY COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON ON TAIL END OF JET STREAK MOVING BY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE WITH PRETTY GOOD COVERAGE EXPECTED LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...A FEW BECOMING STRONG WITH RAIN IN EXCESS OF 2 INCHES AND QUITE A BIT OF LIGHTNING. CONVECTION SHOULD QUIET DOWN OVERNIGHT...BUT KICK BACK UP AGAIN MONDAY AS PLENTIFUL MOISTURE REMAINS IN PLACE. ALL MODELS ARE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT WITH DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLE LOW CENTERS OVER THE EASTERN GULF MONDAY NIGHT...PASSING THROUGH DURING THE DAY TUESDAY. LOTS OF CLOUDS AND HIGH POPS...WITH TEMPS EXPECTED TO BE DOWN DURING THE DAY WITH LESS SUNSHINE. DRYING KICKS IN BEHIND FIRST COLD FRONT OF THE SEASON ON WEDNESDAY. HIGH TEMPS WILL BE A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL BY THEN. THURSDAY MORNING WILL FEEL NICE WITH TEMPS 5 TO 10 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. THE DRIER AND COOLER CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY WITH A SLOW WARM UP TOWARDS NORMAL TEMPS OVER THE WEEKEND. MARINE: GRADIENT REMAINS REASONABLY LOW THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT...THEN WINDS PICK UP ON TUESDAY AS LOWS MOVE BY. WINDS WILL BE STRONGEST WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS COLD ADVECTION KICKS IN BEHIND THE FRONT. SCEC WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED BY THEN. PRELIM NUMBERS: BKV 70/86/70/83 5667 TPA 74/88/74/84 5667 GIF 73/87/72/84 4557 SRQ 73/88/73/84 5667 FMY 73/88/73/85 5667 .TBW...NONE. ALSHEIMER
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-131500- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 552 AM EDT SUN OCT 13 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: ...SCATTERED LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ESPECIALLY ACROSS COASTAL COUNTIES... HOT AND HUMID AIR WILL BE LIFTED BY THE COLLISION OF EASTERLY FLOW WITH THE GULF COAST SEA BREEZE TO PRODUCE MORE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. A FEW STORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER INTERIOR WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA BETWEEN 2 AND 4 PM. THESE STORMS WILL CONTAIN OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING AND A BRIEF DOWNPOUR. BOUNDARIES FROM THESE STORMS WILL IGNITE MORE ACTIVITY OVER THE COASTAL COUNTIES BETWEEN 5 AND 7 PM. STRONGER STORMS ARE POSSIBLE BY SUNSET IN AREAS WHERE THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE PROVIDES ADDITIONAL LIFT. THESE STRONGER STORMS WILL CONTAIN FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...RAINFALL RATES OF 2 OR 3 INCHES PER HOUR...AND BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 30 MPH. CONDITIONS WILL GRADUALLY IMPROVE LATER THIS EVENING. 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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: ...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY... AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP IN THE EASTERN GULF MONDAY NIGHT...THEN BEGIN TO INTENSIFY TUESDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL BE DRAWN NORTHWARD AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM...RESULTING IN NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN ACROSS A GOOD PART OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA...WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS WHERE STRONGER CELLS DEVELOP. THE ENERGY PROVIDED BY THE DISTURBANCE WILL ALSO INCREASE THE THREAT FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...ESPECIALLY LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION UNFOLDS. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW BSG
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
232 PM EDT SUN OCT 13 2002
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0150 PM OTTER CREEK FL .75 INCH HAIL
10/13/02 LEVY REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT.
0220 PM LARGO FL .75 INCH HAIL
10/13/02 PINELLAS REPORTED BY STORM SPOTTER.
JTDThe Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:01 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a home and caused minor damage.
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: 5318889.