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 Jun 21, 8:20 AM EST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 920 AM EDT SAT JUN 21 2003 WESTERLY FLOW CONTINUES ALOFT WITH SHORTWAVE AND VORT MAXES OVER THE EASTERN GULF AND PENINSULA THIS MORNING. SURFACE FRONT OVER THE DEEP SOUTH AND RIDGE WELL TO THE SOUTH CREATING SW LOW LEVEL FLOW OVER MUCH OF THE PENINSULA AND WESTERLY FLOW OVER N FL WITH CONFLUENT ZONE OVER WEST CENTRAL FL TODAY. LATEST SAT IMAGERY SHOWING ABUNDANT THICK CLOUD SHIELD OVER THE AREA AS RADAR SHOWING AREAS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NE GULF INTO THE NORTHERN NATURE COAST SINKING SOUTHWARD AND ANOTHER AREA FROM THE EAST CENTRAL GULF EXPANDING EASTWARD OVER THE TAMPA BAY AREA AND INTO INTERIOR AREAS. MORNING SOUNDING AGAIN HAS MOIST AND UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT IN PLACE. LATEST MODELS RUNS CONTINUE CURRENT THINKING OF WIDESPREAD CONVECTION THRU THE DAY WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS WITH TRAINING CELLS EXACERBATING EXISTING FLOODING PROBLEMS AS GROUND REMAINS SATURATED. CURRENT ZONES AND COASTALS HANDLE SITUATION WELL...NO CHANGES EXPECTED. .TBW...FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL ZONES TODAY. RD
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-211500- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 615 AM EDT SAT JUN 21 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: ...A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL COUNTIES IN WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA TODAY... DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND THIS COMBINED WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL CAUSE PERIODS OF RAIN AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. WIDESPREAD RAINS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES...WITH LOCALLY 8 INCHES...IS LIKELY AGAIN TODAY. ANY ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL MAY CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS...INCLUDING WIDESPREAD FRESHWATER FLOODING. SUCH FLOODING COULD CLOSE DOZENS OF ROADS...INCLUDING A FEW MAJOR THOROUGHFARES... AND FLOOD PASTURE LAND. IN ADDITION...THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL POSE A THREAT OF STRONG GUSTY WINDS UP TO 35 MPH AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: THE MOIST TROPICAL AIR MASS WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE AREA...ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF A BRADENTON TO SEBRING LINE... WITH THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN SUNDAY AND SOME FLOODING STILL POSSIBLE. MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY WILL SEE A RETURN TO ISOLATED TO SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE REGION. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW PRC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
One man was killed and another injured when they were struck by lightning while standing under a 30 foot oak tree. The injured man suffered from numbness to his right arm and leg and had burns on the bottom of his feet.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Polk | 2003-06-21 | 40 | Male | Under Tree | 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, June 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: 5364710.