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 Aug 12, 1:35 AM EST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.
SOUTH FLORIDA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI 235 AM EDT TUE AUG 12 2003 .TODAY AND TONIGHT...WATER VAPOR IS SHOWING ACTIVE SHORT WAVE BARRELING THROUGH EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND UPPER AIR ANALYSIS SHOWS HEIGHT RISES OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. THE LONG WAVE TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN U.S. IS THUS RETROGRADING AS EXPECTED...WITH THE ATLANTIC RIDGE RECLAIMING POSITION OVER SOUTH FLORIDA. LIGHT EAST TO SOUTHEAST FLOW IS EVIDENT THROUGH 850MB TONIGHT. PRECIPTIABLE WATER VALUES STILL HIGH ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON CONVECTION AGAIN TODAY...WITH EAST COAST SEA BREEZE MAIN WEATHER MAKER FAVORING THE INTERIOR SECTIONS. JUDGING FROM THE EVENING SOUNDING...THE LI IS ONLY A -6...DOWN FROM EARLIER AND HINTING THE SEVERE POTENTIAL IS LESS. WILL GET A BETTER EVALUATION AFTER THE MORNING SOUNDING IS IN. .WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...ATTENTION TURNS TO THE TROUGH SOUTH OF BERMUDA MOVING TOWARD US. EXTRAPOLATION THE TROUGHS MOVEMENT FROM YESTERDAY PUTS IT HERE LATE WEDNESDAY/EARLY THURSDAY...IN LINE WITH THE 00Z GFS...ETA AND NOGAPS RUNS. ALL THREE MODELS PUT THE SYSTEM THROUGH THE KEYS. WONT CHANGE THE 20 TO 25 KNOTS OVER THE ATLANTIC IN THE CURRENT MARINE PACKAGE...WILL MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY. HOWEVER...EXPECT A MORE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF WINDS AND SEAS THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS THE LOW APPROACHES. RAIN-WISE...THE SYSTEM STILL LOOKS A LITTLE ANEMIC ON SATELLITE IMAGERY AS FAR AS CONVECTION. IN ADDITION...THE RAPID FORWARD MOVEMENT UNDER THE DOMINANT RIDGE WILL PREVENT THIS FROM BEING MUCH OF A SOAKER. HOWEVER...IT IS FEASIBLE TO SEE INCREASED CONVECTION BEFORE THE SYSTEM ARRIVES. GFS MOS GUIDANCE IS MAINTAINING POPS PROBABLY A BIT LOW. STILL CANT SEE LESS THAN 50% FOR WED NIGHT...WILL KEEP THE 60 IN CURRENT PACKAGE. MARINE...LIGHT TO MODERATE EAST TO SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL BUILD THROUGH WED NIGHT AS TROUGH MOVES IN. GRADUALLY SUBSIDING SOUTHEAST FLOW THEREAFTER. .FIRE...TRANSPORT WINDS AND DISPERSIONS WEDNESDAY AHEAD OF THE TROUGH. .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PBI BT 090/075 088/078 089 42565 FLL BT 089/076 090/078 089 42565 MIA BT 090/076 090/078 089 42565 APF BT 091/076 092/076 089 42465 .MIA...NONE. CHRISTENSEN
FLZ063-066>075-121600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 530 AM EDT TUE AUG 12 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY ...NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS INTERIOR THIS AFTERNOON... ...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS COASTAL AREAS... THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS MOST OF SOUTH FLORIDA ONCE AGAIN TODAY. THE MOST FAVORED AREAS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE NEAR COASTAL AREAS EARLY IN THE AFTERNOON ONCE THE SEABREEZE CIRCULATION BECOMES WELL ESTABLISHED. THE STORMS WILL LIKELY MOVE TOWARD THE INTERIOR REGIONS AS THE SEABREEZES MOVE INLAND. HOWEVER...DUE TO A SLIGHT SOUTHWEST STEERING FLOW...STORMS WILL LIKELY CLUSTER OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE SOUTH FLORIDA PENINSULA BY THE END OF THE DAY. THE GREATEST THREAT FROM THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY WILL BE FREQUENT CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES AND WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH. 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...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
AMZ651-FLZ072-120830- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 330 AM EDT TUE AUG 12 2003 ...FUNNEL CLOUDS OVER BROWARD COUNTY COASTAL WATERS NEAR SHORE... AT 328 AM...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RECEIVED A REPORT OF THREE FUNNEL CLOUDS JUST OFFSHORE BROWARD COUNTY BETWEEN FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH AND LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA. DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING THE FUNNEL CLOUDS WAS CENTERED ONE MILE FROM SHORE AND DRIFTING SLOWLY NORTH. MARINERS SHOULD AVOID BOATING IN THE BROWARD COASTAL WATERS UNTIL THESE STORMS HAVE PASSED. THE FUNNEL CLOUDS COULD DEVELOP INTO WATERSPOUTS. LISTEN FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
The Miami radar (KAMX), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:12 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A waterspout moved ashore from the Atlantic near 75th Street and Collins Avenue on Miami Beach. The tornado overturned a Beach Patrol lifeguard stand and uprooted a sea grape tree which damaged a sidewalk and patio. The tornado then dissipated.
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, August 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: 5369231.