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 Aug 20, 1:46 PM EST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 246 PM EDT WED AUG 20 2003 .CURRENTLY...MSAS PLACES SURFACE RIDGE AXIS JUST NORTH OF TAMPA BAY WITH GENERALLY SOUTHEAST FLOW...ALTHOUGH A FEW LOCATIONS ON THE COAST HAVE SEA BREEZED. MOST OF THE MORNING CONVECTION OVER THE GULF HAS MELTED AWAY...WITH TSTMS FORMING FROM EAST POLK TO LEE COUNTIES. .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT-FRI)...WILL FAVOR THE GFS WHICH HAS BEEN THE MOST CONSISTENT WITH THE SURFACE RIDGE STAY OVER THE NORTH HALF OF THE CWFA...HOWEVER WILL BLEND IN THE MESO-ETA WHICH HAS BEEN HANDLING THE MOISTURE FIELDS AND WINDS BETTER AND THE MET MOS FOR TEMPS. RIDGE TO REMAIN BROAD AND WEAK ENOUGH FOR AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES TO PROVIDE A FOCUS FOR HIGH END SCATTERED CONVECTION IN THE AFTERNOONS AND THEN WINDING DOWN IN THE EVENINGS. .EXTENDED (SAT-WED)... THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE IS STILL FLUCTUATING THROUGH OUR REGION... SETTING UP THE CHANCE FOR TSTMS EACH AFTERNOON. THE GFS HAS A WEAK SURFACE LOW MOVING INTO THE NORTHWEST CARIBBEAN ON MONDAY... THIS ALONG WITH A NEW HIGH FORECAST BY THE CURRENT GFS TO BUILD IN OFF THE ATLANTIC WILL TIGHTEN THE PRESSURE GRADIENT AND SET UP MORE OF AN EASTERLY FLOW...THOUGH MODEL WINDS MAY BE A BIT STRONG SO HAVE ADJUSTED THEM DOWN A BIT. TEMPERATURES SHOULD REMAIN NEAR CLIMO. .MARINE...GENERALLY LIGHT FLOW WILL KEEP MARINE PROBLEMS TO A MINIMUM INTO THE WEEKEND...WINDS SHIFT INTO THE EAST BY MONDAY BUT REMAIN FAIRLY LOW. PRELIMINARY #S TPA 075/088 076/089 3534 FMY 075/089 074/090 3534 GIF 073/090 073/091 3534 SRQ 074/088 075/089 3534 BKV 071/090 072/090 3534 .TBW...NONE. RKR/RJS
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-201400- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 600 AM EDT WED AUG 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: DAYTIME HEATING WILL ONCE AGAIN GENERATE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REGION. DEEPER SOUTHEAST FLOW WILL HELP TO BRING THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE ACROSS THE STATE INTO THE SOUTHWESTERN COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON. A WEST COAST SEA BREEZE WILL DEVELOP AROUND 2 PM AND MOVE SLOWLY INLAND. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOST CONCENTRATED WHERE BOUNDARY COLLISIONS TAKE PLACE...WHICH WILL BE NEAR THE COAST IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AND FURTHER INLAND OVER CENTRAL FLORIDA. THE MAIN THREAT TODAY WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WITH SOME URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING LIKELY IN SOME SPOTS. A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL AND BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH...BUT NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN MORE STRONGLY FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...WITH LOWER MOISTURE AND SOMEWHAT MORE STABLE AIR. THIS WILL RESULT IN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING A BIT LATER IN THE AFTERNOON...WITH LESS OVERALL COVERAGE AS WELL. STILL... ISOLATED STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. A TROPICAL WAVE IS FORECAST TO PASS SOUTH OF THE REGION MONDAY AND TUESDAY...THUS INCREASING THE CHANCES FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY...
FLZ050-202215- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 537 PM EDT WED AUG 20 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL PINELLAS COUNTY... AT 535 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN AREA OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS THAT HAVE DEVELOPED ALONG THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE FRONT...FROM JUST SOUTH OF BELLEAIR...SOUTHWARD TO TREASURE ISLAND. A HAM RADIO OPERATOR REPORTED PEA HAIL NEAR LARGO MALL...ON THE CORNER OF ULMERTON ROAD AND SEMINOLE BOULEVARD. THESE STORMS WILL ALSO BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 35 MPH...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OF UP TO 2 INCHES...AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. THESE STORMS WILL AFFECT SAINT PETERSBURG...PINELLAS PARK...LEALMAN AND HIGHPOINT...UNTIL 615 PM EDT. TORRENTIAL RAINS WILL CAUSE PONDING OF WATER ON ROADS...AND MINOR FLOODING OF POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. MORALES
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:01 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck an apartment building and caused a fire in two rooms. Four families were displaced because of the fire and smoke damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5369108.