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 Jul 25, 8:30 AM EST, 4 hours 38 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 930 AM EDT FRI JUL 25 2003 CURRENT/SHORT TERM...MORNING TBW SOUNDING SHOWS SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW BECOMING WEST ABOVE 800 MB THEN SE ABOVE 300 MB. RIDGE STILL ACROSS CENTRAL FL BUT LOW LEVEL FLOW IS SOMEWHAT DISTORTED BY SMALL LOW OFF VOLUSIA/FLAGLER COUNTIES. PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES ARE COOLER THAN NORMAL AND THIS ADDED INSTABILITY SHOULD HELP KEEP TSTMS STRONGER WITH ISOLATED SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON ESPECIALLY FROM TAMPA BAY NORTH. CONVECTION ALREADY NEAR SHORE OVER NORTHERN FA AND OVER SOUTHERN FA WHERE FLOW IS MORE SE TSTMS SHOULD BE LATER. MARINE...NO PROBLEMS. .TBW...NONE. CP
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-251430- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL FL 600 AM EDT FRI JUL 25 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: SOUTHEASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL BRING THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE TO THE WEST COAST THIS AFTERNOON. THIS AND THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES WILL TRIGGER SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. IN ADDITION TO THE SEA BREEZE FRONT...A SMALL SCALE UPPER LEVEL ROTATION 150 MILES WEST OF NAPLES EARLY THIS MORNING WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. A SMALL POCKET OF COOL AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM COULD ENHANCE THE HAIL POTENTIAL. LOCALIZED FLOODING AND BRIEF 60 MPH DOWNBURST WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: SOUTHEASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY AS A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER NORTHERN FLORIDA. THIS WILL PUSH THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE INTO THE AREA AND CREATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERTSORMS. WINDS WILL VEER TO THE SOUTHWEST TUESDAY AS LARGE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVES INTO THE EASTERN QUARTER OF THE U.S. THIS WILL BRING EARLY MORNING STORMS TO THE COAST AND SCATTERED STORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE REMINDED TO RELAY ANY REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER TO THE NWS OFFICE IN RUSKIN. NOAH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike sparked a fire that caused moderate damage to a house on Cottonwood Drive.
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, July 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: 5366047.