1 rip current, 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 Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 30, 2:20 PM EST, 40 minutes earlier.
SOUTH FLORIDA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI 320 PM EDT SAT AUG 30 2003 MORNING SOUNDING FROM MFL SHOWED 2.0 INCH PWAT. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS SUBSTANTIALLY DRIER AIR MOVING INTO SOUTH FLORIDA AS RIDGE BOTH AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT FROM THE NORTHEAST. THIS IS BACKED UP BY GPS SENSOR AT MIAMI SHOWING PW HAS FALLEN TO 1.7. RESULT HAS BEEN PRIMARILY FAIR WEATHER CUMULUS CLOUDS AND MODERATELY STRONG EASTERLY BREEZES AND ONLY ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SO FAR THIS AFTERNOON. A FEW MORE STORMS WILL DEVELOP NEAR CONVERGENT ZONE ALONG GULF COAST WHERE SEABREEZE TRIES TO DEVELOP IN OTHERWISE UNIFORM EASTERLY FLOW...BUT EVEN THERE COVERAGE SHOULD ONLY BE SCATTERED. LAST SEVERAL RUNS OF THE GFS HAVE FAILED TO ACCURATELY DEPICT CURRENT SITUATION...FROM THE DRIER AIR MOVING INTO SOUTH FLORIDA TO HURRICANE FABIAN WELL OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC. THUS...IM PUTTING LITTLE FAITH INTO THAT MODEL AND INSTEAD PREFER THE MESOETA SOLUTION. EXPECT BATCH OF TROPICAL MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN BAHAMAS TO WORK ITS WAY NORTHWESTWARD...BRINGING INCREASED MOISTURE INTO THE AREA STARTING SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH MAXIMUM ON MONDAY AS TROUGH AXIS CROSSES US. BEYOND THAT...MODEL GUIDANCE BEGINS TO DIVERGE. MOST EXTENDED MODELS DEVELOP TROUGH OVER THE EAST...RESULTING IN TROPICAL ACTIVITY TURNING NORTH AND PASSING WELL OFF TO THE EAST OF FLORIDA WITH SOUTHERLY FLOW OVER US. THE NEW 12Z GFS SEEMS TO BE BACKING OFF THAT JUST A LITTLE BIT...AND TRYING TO WEAKLY REBUILD A RIDGE TO OUR NORTH. BUT AGAIN...I HAVE LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN THE GFS SOLUTION. PLENTY OF TIME TO MONITOR SITUATION AS THIS PRIMARILY AFFECTS DAY 7 OF OUR FORECAST AND BEYOND...SO WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. FOR NOW...WILL BROAD BRUSH EXTENDED WITH NEAR CLIMO TEMPS/POPS EACH DAY. PBI BB 080/089 078/090 077 23244 FLL BB 081/088 080/089 079 23244 MIA BB 080/089 079/090 078 23244 APF TT 074/093 075/091 075 35455 .MIA...NONE. HANDEL
FLZ063-066>075-301600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 512 AM EDT SAT AUG 30 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY ...MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS ATLANTIC BEACHES... EASTERLY WINDS AT 15 MPH WILL LEAD TO A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS ALONG OCEAN BEACHES OF PALM BEACH... BROWARD... AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTIES. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS... AND MOSTLY OVER THE INTERIOR AND WEST PORTIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES... AND WIND GUSTS TO 30 MPH. HOWEVER... MOVEMENT TOWARD THE WEST SHOULD BE SWIFT ENOUGH THAT THE POSSIBILITY OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS IS SIGNIFICANTLY DIMINISHED. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. 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...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
East winds around 15 mph created rip currents that drowned a Miami resident while swimming in the ocean near 41st Street on Miami Beach.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rip Current, Miami-Dade | 2003-08-30 | 34 | Male | In Water | 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: 5368512.