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 23, 12:56 PM EST, 2 hours 4 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 933 AM EDT SAT AUG 23 2003 ANOTHER DAY OF HEAVY RAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING THEN A RIDGE ALOFT WILL BUILD ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA AREA WILL PUSH SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR INTO THE REGION ON SUNDAY AT LEAST THE NORTHERN THIRD OF THE AREA. THERE WILL STILL BE ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE SO SCATTERED CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY IS STILL IN ORDER. ON THE SURFACE THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE BUILDS BACK NORTH AND WE TRANSITION BACK INTO EASTERLY FLOW BY LATE MONDAY. THE BIG UNCERTAINTY IS THE REMNANTS OF TD 9. THE GFS DRAPES MOISTURE FROM THE WHAT IS LEFT OF THE SYSTEM ACROSS THE EXTREME SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE STATE. THE DEEP LAYER RIDGE ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST U.S. SHOULD KEEP THE WAVE SQUASHED SOUTH OF OUR AREA BUT ITS TOO EARLY WITH A SYSTEM LIKE THIS TO MAKE ANY DEFINITIVE STATEMENTS. IN A NUTSHELL...A LITTLE LOWER POPS FOR SUNDAY THEN WE WILL GO WITH CLIMO IN THE EXTENDED. FOR THE MARINE FORECAST...SAME OLD SAME OLD. THE SURFACE RIDGE WILL MEANDER NORTH OF US AND WE WILL SEE LIGHT OFFSHORE FLOW FOR THE MOST PART. THE ONLY CAVEAT BEING WHAT OR IF ANY OF THE REMNANTS OF TD 9 MAKE IT THIS FAR. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS TPA TT 076/090 076/090 2525 FMY TT 076/091 075/090 2525 GIF TT 074/092 075/091 2525 SRQ TT 079/088 075/088 2525 BKV TT 072/091 074/090 2524 .TBW...NONE. SOBIEN
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-231400- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 600 AM EDT SAT AUG 23 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE REMAINS OVER THE FLORIDA PENINSULA. MINIMAL SURFACE HEATING WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON. BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW WILL BE SHIFTING TO THE WEST WHICH WILL PUSH THE BULK OF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVER THE INTERIOR BY LATE AFTERNOON. THE MAIN THREAT TODAY WILL AGAIN BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN DUE TO THE DEEP TROPICAL AIRMASS OVER THE AREA. THE GROUND IS SATURATED DUE TO RECENT HEAVY RAINS...WHICH WILL LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING OF STREETS AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. WIND GUSTS OF UP TO 40 MPH IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGER STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: AREAL COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL DECREASE SLIGHTLY ON SUNDAY...BUT DECREASING TO SCATTERED ON SUNDAY AS A WEAK RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS ACROSS THE CENTRAL FLORIDA PENINSULA. LOCALIZED FLOODING WILL REMAIN A THREAT THROUGH THE WEEK. WILL HAVE TO MONITOR PROGRESS OF TROPICAL WAVE CURRENTLY SOUTH OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. SEE THE LATEST STATEMENTS FROM THE TROPICAL PREDICTION CENTER FOR DETAILS ON THIS SYSTEM. SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY...
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:59 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck and killed a 23 year old man while he was playing soccer at Billy Bowlegs Park in Fort Myers.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Lee | 2003-08-23 | 23 | Male | Ball Field | Direct |
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: 5369109.