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 29, 12:25 PM EST, 5 hours 50 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 125 PM EDT TUE JUL 29 2003 ONLY SUBTLE CHANGES TO THE PATTERN TO FINISH OFF THE WORKWEEK. YET ANOTHER WEAK EASTERN U.S. TROUGH NOSING DOWN INTO FL WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE BY WED...LEAVING A FLAT SFC-500 MB RIDGE ACROSS THE CENTRAL PENINSULA INTO FRI. UPPER TROUGHING SEEMS NEVER FAR AWAY THIS SUMMER...AND GFS HINTING AT YET ANOTHER SLIGHT DIP FOR THE WEEKEND. MODELS IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM. GFS MAY BE A BIT TOO DRY GIVEN PERSISTENCE/CLIMATOLOGY...SO WILL LEAN TOWARD THE ETA SOLUTION THIS PACKAGE. SHORT TERM (TONIGHT - THU): STABILIZATION FROM MORNING CONVECTION...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE COAST... IS HOLDING OFF DEVELOPMENT FOR NOW BUT EXPECT THINGS TO CRANK UP BETWEEN 2 AND 5 PM AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. MAY CARRY AN AFTN/EVE PERIOD IN THE TEXT TO ACCOUNT. THEREAFTER...LIGHT SW FLOW JUST OFF THE SFC AND STILL A WEAKNESS ALOFT ACROSS THE N PENINSULA MAY HELP THE ISOLD/SCT EARLY MORNING ACTIVITY AGAIN WED...ESPECIALLY FROM TAMPA BAY N. THIS AREA SHOULD CONTRACT FARTHER N THURS MORNING AS HEIGHTS RISE AND SHEAR AXIS DISSIPATES. TYPICAL SCT AFTN/EVE TSTMS EACH DAY WITH CLIMO PCPN CHANCES AND SEASONAL TEMPERATURES. EXTENDED (THU NIGHT - TUE): WEAK SURFACE RIDGE WILL HOLD OVER THE CENTRAL FLORIDA PENINSULA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. WEAK FLOW WILL ALLOW FOR THE WEST COAST SEABREEZE TO PUSH WELL INLAND BY LATE IN THE DAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS OVER THE COASTAL COUNTIES AND SPREAD INLAND THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. SUNDAY WILL BE A TRANSITION DAY AS THE SURFACE RIDGE AXIS IS PUSHED SOUTH DUE TO A DIGGING U/L TROUGH OVER THE SOUTHEAST U.S. GENERALLY CLIMO POPS AND TEMPS EXPECTED SUNDAY ALL AREAS. AS THE RIDGE AXIS SINKS SOUTH...L/L FLOW WILL BECOME SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST ACROSS THE REGION SUNDAY NIGHT. THIS IS CONDUCIVE TO LATE NIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO PUSHING LOCALLY ONSHORE DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ON MONDAY... WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER THE INTERIOR MONDAY AFTERNOON. THIS PATTERN WILL HOLD ON TUESDAY WITH SIMILAR CONDITIONS EXPECTED. OVERNIGHT MIN TEMPS WILL RUN A FEW DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL... ESPECIALLY NEAR THE COAST...WITH DAYTIME HIGHS NEAR NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL BOTH MONDAY AND TUESDAY. MARINE: OUTSIDE OF CONVECTION...LIGHT S TO SW WINDS WITH WEAK AFTN SEA BREEZES AND SLIGHT SEAS THROUGH THE PERIOD. FIRE WX: NO PROBLEMS ARE EXPECTED. THANX FOR COORD KMFL. PRELIM NUMBERS: TPA 076/090 076/091 2525 FMY 075/091 075/092 3535 GIF 075/093 075/093 3535 SRQ 074/089 074/090 2525 BKV 072/091 072/092 2525 .TBW...NONE. BSG/EO
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-291530- WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 530 AM EDT TUE JUL 29 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: ...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE TODAY... AN UPPER LEVEL LOW COMBINED WITH DAYTIME HEATING WILL PRODUCE QUITE UNSTABLE CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING THROUGH THE DAY...FIST ALONG THE COAST...THEN MOVING INLAND. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL CONTAIN HAIL...HEAVY RAIN IN EXCESS OF TWO INCHES...AND WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH OR HIGHER. EXCESSIVE LIGHTNING IS ALSO EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY: SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY AS TYPICAL SUMMERTIME CONDITIONS PERSIST. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED TODAY. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE REMINDED TO RELAY ANY REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER TO THE NWS OFFICE IN RUSKIN. ALSHEIMER
MARINE LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
120 PM EDT TUE JUL 29 2003
TIME(EDT) .....MARINE SUBZONE.... GMZ ...EVENT/REMARKS...
......MARINE ZONE......
0612 AM OLD TAMPA BAY 830 34 KT MARINE TSTM WIND
07/29/03 TAMPA BAY WATERS REPORTED BY MARINE OBS
STATION AT OLD PORT
TAMPA...TAMPA BAY PORTS.
BSGFLZ065-292145- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 458 PM EDT TUE JUL 29 2003 ...STRONG SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT LEE COUNTY...UNTIL 545 PM EDT. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT WHISKEY CREEK...NORTH FORT MYERS...FORT MYERS...CAPE CORAL...ESTERO...FORT MYERS VILLAS AND PAGE PARK-PINE MANOR... GUSTY WINDS UP TO 40 MPH WILL OCCUR. FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS EXPECTED. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...CROUCH DOWN IN A LOW SPOT...AWAY FROM TALL OBJECTS. HAIL UP TO ONE HALF INCH IN DIAMETER IS EXPECTED. RAINFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR WILL OCCUR. MOTORISTS CAN EXPECT PONDING OF WATER ON ROADS...AND MINOR FLOODING OF POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. DAVIS
FLZ062-292245- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 602 PM EDT TUE JUL 29 2003 ...SLOW MOVING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT EASTERN CHARLOTTE COUNTY... WILL AFFECT RURAL EASTERN AND NORTHEASTERN CHARLOTTE COUNTY NEAR TUCKERS CORNER AND BABCOCK RANCH...UNTIL 645 PM EDT. GUSTY WINDS UP TO 40 MPH WILL OCCUR. FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS EXPECTED. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...CROUCH DOWN IN A LOW SPOT...AWAY FROM TALL OBJECTS. HAIL UP TO ONE HALF INCH IN DIAMETER IS EXPECTED. RAINFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR WILL OCCUR. MOTORISTS CAN EXPECT PONDING OF WATER ON ROADS...AND MINOR FLOODING OF POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. DAVIS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a mobile home that was being refurbished near Zolfo Springs. The resulting fire destroyed the home and caused damage to three other mobile homes nearby.
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: 5369304.