1 heat, 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 Feb 17, 1:40 AM EST, 8 hours 32 minutes earlier.
SOUTH FLORIDA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI 140 AM EST MON FEB 17 2003 CURRENTLY...WEAKENING PREFRONTAL TROUGH MOVING OFF SE FLA COAST. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS...WITH A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MOVING NE ALONG TROUGH WITH SURFACE WINDS WINDS SHIFTING TO SW IMMEDIATELY BEHIND TROUGH WITH GUSTS AVERAGING 25 KNOTS. COLD FRONT EXTENDING S FROM NE FLA SW TO JUST N TPA AND INTO GULF. FOR THE SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH TUE NIGHT...PREFRONTAL TROUGH WILL BE MOVING THROUGH ATLC COASTAL WATERS WITH COLD FRONT ROUGHLY FROM DAB TO TPA. BY 18Z...COLD FRONT SHOULD BE NEAR A MLB/FMY LINE JUST N OF THE LAKE. BY 00Z THIS EVENING...FRONT SHOULD BE MOVING OFF OF THE SE COAST. UPPER TROUGH THAT BROUGHT PREFRONTAL TROUGH/COLD FRONT TO S FLA RAPIDLY FILLS AS SYSTEM MOVES NE INTO ATLC AND UPPER FLOW BECOMES ZONAL AS HIGH PRESSURE SURFACE/ALOFT BUILDING OVER GULF/SE U.S. WEAK AND MOVES ACROSS THE AREA TUE. ZONAL FLOW MEANS VERY LITTLE PUSH. TUE WILL BE AND A DRY COOL DAY BUT JUST A VERY BRIEF RESPITE AS IT APPEARS THE S END OF FRONT HANGS UP S OF AREA ...WHICH WILL AFFECT EXTENDED FORECAST. FOR TODAY...MAINLY SCATTERED SHOWERS BUT WILL KEEP THE ISOLATED THUNDER ALREADY IN FORECAST... ENDING FROM NW TO SE...ENDING EARLY EVENING SE COAST. CLOUD COVER WILL ALLOW SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS TODAY THEN COOLER THROUGH TUE NIGHT BUT NOTHING EXTREME WITH MAYBE SOME INTERIOR MID TO UPPER 40S TONIGHT WITH MOSTLY 50S ELSEWHERE...WARMING A SMIDGE TUE NIGHT... WHICH BRACKET A TUE MOSTLY IN THE LOW TO MID 70S. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...WED THROUGH SAT...FRONT TO S BEGINS MARCH N WITH MODELS INDICATING A DEVELOPING UPWARD ISENTROPIC LIFT WED THAT WILL PUT 20 PERCENT POPS S PORTION OF AREA THAT GRADUALLY INCREASES THROUGH PERIOD...AWAITING NEXT FRONTAL SYSTEM THAT APPROACHES N FLA EARLY SAT...MOVING THROUGH S FLA EARLY SUN. THEREFORE, GRADUAL INCREASE IN TEMPS/POPS...WITH SOME THUNDER SAT AND DIMINISHING SHOWERS EARLY SUN WHICH ALREADY IN FORECAST. TEMPS WARMING TO ABOVE NORMAL BY WED...CONTINUING THROUGH SAT...THEN COOLING SUN. IN THE MARINE ZONES...PREFRONTAL TROUGH PRODUCING SW/W GUSTS AROUND 25 KNOTS IN ATLC WATERS AT THE MOMENT. ONCE THIS SYSTEM CLEARS ATLC WATERS...WINDS WILL BE GENERALLY SW/W 10 TO 15 KNOTS ALL AREAS TODAY BECOMING NW BEHIND FRONT THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY EVE. WINDS WILL VEER THROUGH WEEK AT NEAR SAME SPEEDS. SMALL CRAFT EXERCISE CAUTION GULF STREAM TODAY BUT BECOMING AN ADVISORY TONIGHT FOR SEAS WHICH WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST THROUGH TUE NIGHT. IN FIRE WEATHER ZONES...BIG DISPARITY IN MODEL DEWPOINT GUIDANCE. BUT WITH NO REAL PUSH TO BEHIND COLD FRONT...DO NOT EXPECT EXTREME DRYING THOUGH RH VALUES COULD LOWER TO THE UPPER 30S FOR AN HOUR OR TWO TUE. AT THIS TIME...NO HIGHLIGHTS. EXPECT INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FROM WED INTO WEEKEND. PBI EB 079/054 072/059 078 153000 FLL EB 080/058 074/062 080 153-00 MIA EB 080/059 074/063 081 153-00 APF EB 076/054 073/058 078 152000= .MIA...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GULF STREAM TONIGHT.
FLZ063-066>075-172200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 452 AM EST MON FEB 17 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY ...SLIGHT CHANCE OF RIP CURRENTS ALONG GULF COAST THIS MORNING... ...SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON... THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RIP CURRENTS ALONG THE GULF COAST BEACHES OF SOUTH FLORIDA THIS MORNING...AS THE WINDS WILL BE OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST AT 10 TO 15 MPH. THE WINDS WILL CHANGE FROM A SOUTHWEST DIRECTION TO A NORTHWEST DIRECTION EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. THIS WILL END THE SLIGHT CHANCE OF RIP CURRENTS ALONG THE GULF COAST BEACHES OF SOUTH FLORIDA. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON...AS THE HEATING OF THE DAY WILL ALLOW FOR A FEW THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP OVER THE AREA. A COLD FRONT OVER NORTHERN FLORIDA WILL MOVE THROUGH SOUTH FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON...AND WILL END THE SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM NORTHERN INTERIOR EARLY TO EXTREME SOUTHERN INTERIOR THIS EVENING. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL HAVE DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES...BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL...AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH. IF YOU SEE LIGHTNING OR HEAR THUNDER MOVE INTO A STUDY BUILDING UNTIL THE STORMS HAS PASSED. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONAL AND DETAILED GRAPHICS CAN BE FOUND ON THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MIA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. WIND CHILLS COULD FALL INTO THE LOWER 40S RIGHT AROUND SUNRISE OVER GLADES AND HENDRY COUNTIES EARLY TUESDAY MORNING...AS TEMPERATURES WILL GET INTO THE UPPER 40S TO LOWER 50S WITH WINDS OF 10 TO 15 MPH OUT OF THE NORTHWEST. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. BAXTER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Baltimore Oriole's pitcher Steve Bechler, collapsed and died while participating in conditioning drills. The medical examiner determined that the death was due to heat but that ephedrine pills taken three hours earlier had contributed to the death.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat, Coastal Dade | 2003-02-17 | 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, February 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: 5344579.