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 Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 6, 8:15 AM EST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.
EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 915 AM EDT WED AUG 6 2003 CURRENT...LOW LEVEL RIDGE AXIS REMAIN PARKES NEAR LAKE OKEE THIS MORNING. 12Z RAOBS SHOW MOISTURE/FLOW REGIME NEARLY INDENTICAL TO TUE...AND THE KMLB 88D IS ALSO SHOWING RESIDUAL MARINE CONVECTION FROM A TYPICALLY ACTIVE NOCTURNE IN THESE TYPE OF SCENARIOS. FCST...EXPECTING A REPEAT PERFORMANCE OF TUES WX...WITH AN ACTIVE MID-LATE AFTN THROUGH EARLY EVENING AS LOCAL SEA BREEZES/CONVECTION AND ASSOCIATED OUTFLOW BDRYS INTERACT. SIMILAR TO TUE...MAIN BDRY COLLISION SHOULD OCCUR FROM CTRL VOLUSIA TO WEST OF THE ST JOHNS RIVER...SSW TO NEAR LAKE OKEE...WITH THE AXIS OF HEAVIEST RAINFALL BISECTED BY THAT LINE AND SPREADING EAST TWD THE NORTH/CTRL COASTAL COUNTIES. ANY CHGS TO THE ZFP/HWO WILL BE MOSTLY COSMETIC IN NATURE. MARINE...WINDS/SEAS IN THE CWF SPOT ON. NO CHGS NEEDED. .MLB...NONE. SHORT TERM...CRISTALDI LONG TERM...BRAGAW
AMZ550-555-570-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-144-147- 062000- EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1045 AM EDT WED AUG 6 2003 .DAY ONE...TODAY... ...STRONG TO SEVERE LIGHTNING STORMS EXPECTED ONCE AGAIN TODAY... DAYTIME HEATING...ABUNDANT MOISTURE...AND A LATE DAY COLLISION OF THE COASTAL SEA BREEZES WILL LEAD TO SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS LIGHTNING STORMS ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FROM MID AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING. VERY HEAVY RAINFALL UP TO AROUND TWO INCHES AND STRONG WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH MAY ACCOMPANY SOME OF THESE STORMS. A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS OR HAIL ARE POSSIBLE. ADDITIONALLY...ALL STORMS WILL PRODUCE DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...WHICH MAY BECOME EXCESSIVE IN STRONGER STORMS. IF YOU HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE STORM TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. SEEK SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. THE HEAVY RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO LOCALIZED AND TEMPORARY FLOODING OF ROADS...LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS THAT HAVE RECEIVED HEAVY RAINS OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS. FOR MARINE INTERESTS...STRONG STORMS MOVING OFFSHORE MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS...LOCALLY ROUGH SEAS...FREQUENT TO EXCESSIVE CLOUD TO WATER LIGHTNING...AND REDUCED VISIBILITY IN TORRENTIAL RAINFALL THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS LIGHTNING STORMS WILL BE THE PRIMARY HAZARD DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO SELF ACTIVATE THIS AFTERNOON IF STRONG STORMS DEVELOP...AND RELAY ANY REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER INCLUDING RAINFALL AMOUNTS GREATER THAN 2 INCHES TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE. FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...GO TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA. CRISTALDI
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:21 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A waterspout formed over the Intracoastal Waterway and moved to the southwest over Rockledge. An NWS survey team found numerous witnesses who saw the spout move on shore producing a path of broken palm branches, overturned flower pots. No significant damage could be located.
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: 5336884.