1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 18, 1:15 PM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.
SOUTH FLORIDA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI 215 PM EDT FRI APR 18 2003 CURRENTLY...A WEAK SURFACE RIDGE EXTENDS FROM THE NORTH TO JUST EAST OF THE CWA. MID LEVEL RIDGE TO OUR WEST OVER THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO WITH A LOW SW OF BERMUDA. AS THE LOW DEEPENS OVER THE ATLANTIC AND MOVES VERY SLOWLY NORTH...THE SURFACE RIDGE WILL MOVE WEST IN TIME. IN ADDITION...THE MID LEVEL TROUGH WILL BUILD TOWARDS FLORIDA AND AFFECT THE WEATHER SOMEWHAT OVER THE SHORT TERM. .TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY... TODAY WILL BE GENERALLY A REPEAT OF THURSDAY WITH A SLIGHT CHC OF RW/TSTMS INITIATED BY SEABREEZE FRONTS. SOME OF THIS ACTIVITY WILL GO ON THROUGH THE EVENING IN THE NORTHWEST INTERIOR. FOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...WITH THE MID LEVEL RIDGE BUILDING...DRYER LOW/MID LEVEL RHS FALL AND WE BECOME MORE STABLE. SO THEREFORE I WILL DROP THE POPS TO ISOLATED OVER THE WEEKEND. SURFACE RIDGING WILL MOVE WEST TO OVER THE PENINSULA SO LIGHT NORTHEAST TO EAST SURFACE WINDS EXPECTED WITH WEST COAST SEA BREEZES EACH DAY. .SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY... NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE WITH RIDGING FROM THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN INTO THE NORTHEAST GULF AND FAST MOVING SHORTWAVE TROUGHS TO OUR NORTH. SURFACE NORTHEAST FLOW WILL ALSO CONTINUE THROUGH THE PERIOD. THE GFS DOES SHOW WHAT APPEARS TO BE A VERY WEAK FRONT TRYING TO MOVE IN FROM THE NORTH ON WEDNESDAY WITH A VERY BRIEF BACKING OF THE WINDS TO THE WEST TUESDAY AND NORTH WEDNESDAY BUT THEN VEERING TO THE NORTHEAST AGAIN ON THURSDAY. HOWEVER, THERE IS A SLIGHT TEMPERATURE CHANGE WITH THIS FEATURE MID TO LATE WEEK. .MARINE... NO HIGHLIGHTS WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED WIND FIELD PATTERN. ANY GIVEN TIME WINDS FROM THE NORTHEAST WOULD TEND TO GIVE HIGHER SEAS IN THE GULF STREAM BUT WINDS EXPECTED TO BE 10 KNOTS OR LESS THROUGH TUESDAY. THE LOW IN THE ATLANTIC WILL BRING IN NORTHEAST SWELLS SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY AND SUBSIDING BY TUESDAY. NO HIGHLIGHTS FOR FIRE WEATHER AS DEW POINTS REMAIN IN THE 60S. PBI BB 083/072 084/071 084 18211-1 FLL BB 083/073 084/072 084 18211-1 MIA BB 085/072 085/072 085 18211-1 APF BB 083/067 084/066 084 1820101 .MIA...NONE.
FLZ063-066>075-181530- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 525 AM EDT FRI APR 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY ISOLATED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR OVER ANY SECTION OF SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY. THE MAIN HAZARDS WILL BE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES. NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ANTICIPATED. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND DETAILED GRAPHICS CAN BE FOUND ON THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE AT MIAMIWEATHER.INFO. FOR INFORMATION IN SPANISH, VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT ELTIEMPOENMIAMI.INFO. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The Miami radar (KAMX), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:01 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Police watched a tornado touch down in the sugar cane fields and travel south at 10 mph. No crop damage or injuries were reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2003Warnings in Florida, April 2003
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: 5347759.