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 Sep 5, 1:10 PM EST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 210 PM EDT THU SEP 5 2002 CURRENTLY...CIRCULATION OF TD EDOUARD CONTINUES OVER THE NE GULF WITH HEAVY RAIN BANDS REMAINING OVER THE NCENT AND CENT COASTAL AREAS OF THE FA. OVER THE PAST 3 HRS...88D ESTIMATES LOCAL AMTS OF 3- 5 INCHES OF RAINFALL FROM PASCO TO MANATEE COUNY. --SHORT TERM DISC-- FIRST QUESTION IS WHETHER THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR ANY WIDESPREAD FLOODING THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HRS. LATEST TRENDS SEEM TO SHOW A SLOW PRORESSION WESTWARD OF HEAVY RAINFALL BANDS AS THE TD OVER THE NE GULF SLOWLY MOVES WNW. THIS SHOULD MINIMIZE THREAT FOR PROLONGED HEAVY RAINFALL OVER ONE PARTICULAR REGION. ALSO CONVECTION SHOULD PULSE DOWNWARD TONIGHT OVER THE LAND. THUS...WILL HOLD OFF ISSUING FLOOD WATCH. NHC FORECAST AND MOST OF THE SHORT RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO WEAKEN THE TD OVER THE NE GULF AS IT MOVES OFF TOWARD THE WNW. SUFFICIENT MOISTURE IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER THE FA FRI WITH ESE LOW LEVEL FLOW. WILL KEEP 50-60% POPS ACROSS THE FA (CLOSER TO AVN/MAV). FOR SAT...AVN NOW FOLLOWING DRYING TREND OF ETA AND SHOWING MUCH LOWER VALUES OF DEEP LAYER MOISTURE WITH PWS DOWN AROUND 1.5 INCHES. SLIGHTLY HIGHER PWS RETURN BY SUN. DRIER AIR IS PUSHED DOWN FROM THE NE AS A DEEP LAYER RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE E 1/2 OF THE U.S... PRODUCING LOW LEVEL ENE FLOW SAT AND NE FLOW SUN. A LITTLE SKEPTICAL OF THIS DRASTICALLY DRIER AIR AND LOWER POPS. WILL CONTINUE MORE CONSERVATIVE TREND OF PREVIOUS FCST BY SHOWING LOWER (SCT) POPS SAT AND SUN. GIVEN THE TD IS NOT EXPECTED TO SIGNIFICANTLY STRENGTHEN TONIGHT... COASTAL FLOODING SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM. CURRENT TIDES ONLY RUNNING 0.5 TO 1 FT ABOVE NORMAL...AND MAY BE DUE MORE TO SET UP FROM WEAK LOW OVER THE W GULF...WHICH HAS BEEN THERE FOR SEVERAL DAYS. --EXTENDED-- LATEST AVN SHOWS A RETURN OF PWS TO NEAR 2 INCHES MON...BUT THEN ANOTHER SURGE OF DRIER AIR FROM THE N BY TUE (120 HRS). OLD MRF RUN DIVERGES QUICKLY FROM LATEST AVN RUN LATER TUE AND BEYOND SINCE IT WAS BRINING THE CIRC OVER THE W GULF BACK TOWARD THE E...WHICH INCREASED MOISTURE AND TURNED LOW LEVEL WINDS TO SW. EXTRAPOLATING OUT NEW AVN PAST TUE WOULD SUGGEST THE FA WILL BE BETWEEN UPPER LOW OFF THE CARLONIA COAST AND RIDGE OVER THE ECENT U.S. THIS SHOULD KEEP DEEP LAYER ENE FLOW AND PROBABLY LOWER THAN NORMAL POPS THRU MID NEXT WEEK. --MARINE-- TRICKY FOR WIND DIR/SPEED TONIGHT IN THE VCNY OF THE TD OVER THE NE GULF. WINDS BECOMING ESE FRI ENTIRE AREA...AND THEN ENE SAT-TUE. MODELS SHOW SPEEDS INCREASING TO NEAR 15 KTS SAT AND EARLY SUN WITH SOME TIGHTENING OF SFC PRESS GRAD BETWEEN THE LOW OVER THE W GULF AND HIGH OVER THE MID ATLC...BUT WILL KEEP BELOW ANY HIGHLIGHTS FOR NOW. PRELIM #S: BKV 073/088 071/090 4633 TPA 075/088 074/090 4634 GIF 074/089 074/090 3524 SRQ 075/089 075/090 4634 FMY 075/089 075/091 3634= .TBW...NONE. MORALES
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:58 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
An airline employee working on a plane was injured as lightning struck the plane.
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, September 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: 5309648.