1 funnel cloud, 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 Mar 27, 1:35 PM EST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
SOUTH FLORIDA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI 135 PM EST THU MAR 27 2003 WATER VAPOR IMAGERY CONTINUES TO SHOW WELL DEVELOPED MID/UPPER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DIGGING INTO THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO NOW SOUTH OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND MIGRATING EAST-SOUTHEAST. BASED ON MOVEMENT ON SATELLITE IMAGERY AND THE MESOETA...THE LOW SHOULD MOVE OVER THE NORTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA THIS EVENING AND THE MID/UPPER TROF EXTENDING FROM THE LOW SWINGING THROUGH THE CWA LATER TONIGHT. CURRENTLY RADAR AND LIGHTNING DETECTION SHOW CONVECTION FIRING OVER THE NORTH AND WEST SECTIONS OF THE CWA. SEVERE TSTM BOX OVER MOST OF FLORIDA PENINSULA ATTM EXCEPT FOR THE FAR SOUTHERN COUNTIES. THIS AREA WILL BE WATCHED FOR POSSIBLY ANOTHER BOX LATER. FOR TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...EVENING CONVECTION WILL DIMINISH FROM WEST TO EAST. MESOETA AND NGM ARE SIMILAR WITH CHC OF POPS EAST SECTIONS ON FRIDAY WITH MOISTURE CONVERGENCE DUE TO THE SEABREEZES MEETING EACH OTHER. HAVE DISCOUNTED THE AVNS SOUTHWEST WIND FLOW AND LOWER MRHS. THE MESOETAS MRH ON SATURDAY LOOKS DRYER SO WILL KEEP WITH CURRENT FORECAST WITH NO POPS. THE STABLE AIRMASS...MOIST LOW LEVELS...AND LIGHT SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL AID FOG DEVELOPMENT FRIDAY NIGHT. SUNDAY AND BEYOND...A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA LATE EVENING SUNDAY WHICH IS ABOUT 12 HOURS SLOWER THAN EARLIER FORECASTED. LIKELY POPS WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND DECREASE AFTER MIDNIGHT SUNDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL BRING IN A MUCH COOLER AIRMASS INTO SOUTH FLORIDA FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY. WILL KEEP THE BREEZY WORDING FOR MONDAY. SEVERE A POTENTIAL IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT BUT A LITTLE EARLY TO NAIL IT DOWN. TEMPS WILL RECOVER TO TO SEASONAL NORMS BY MIDWEEK. MARINE...WINDS WILL BE GENERALLY FROM THE SOUTHERLY DIRECTION AND SPEEDS WILL BE DECREASING THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. WINDS WILL BECOME MORE SOUTHWEST SATURDAY AND INCREASE IN SPEED SUNDAY IN ADVANCE OF THE COLD FRONT. MONDAY LOOKS FAIRLY ROUGH...ESPECIALLY OVER GULF STREAM...WITH STRONG NORTHWEST TO NORTH FLOW BEHIND THE COLD FRONT BECOMING NORTHEAST AT 10 OR 15 KNOTS BY TUESDAY. FIRE...NO ISSUES WITH HUMIDITY. PATCHY FOG FRIDAY NIGHT. HIGHER DISPERSION VALUES EXPECTED BY MONDAY. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS PBI BU 068/085 067/086 067 1852000 FLL BU 069/086 072/086 071 1852000 MIA BU 069/086 071/086 071 1852000 APF UU 068/082 066/083 067 1810000 .MIA...NONE.
FLZ063-066>075-272300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 1150 AM EST THU MAR 27 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON... AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE AREA WILL CROSS THE REGION TODAY. THIS COMBINED WITH PLENTY OF ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY WILL RESULT IN SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. THE STORMS WILL BE ACCOMPANIED WITH FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING, HAIL, AND STRONG DAMAGING WINDS TO 60 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. THESE STORMS WILL INITIALLY AFFECT THE GULF COAST AND INTERIOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA AND MOVE EAST INTO THE METRO AREAS THE ATLANTIC COAST. THE STORMS COULD LINGER INTO THE EVENING HOURS ALONG THE METROPOLITAN AREAS OF PALM BEACH, BROWARD, AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTIES. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND DETAILED GRAPHICS CAN BE FOUND ON THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE AT MIAMIWEATHER.INFO. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA ON SUNDAY BRINGING WITH ANOTHER CHANCE FOR SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS. MUCH COOLER AND DRIER AIR IS EXPECTED BY MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED FOR GLADES...HENDRY...COLLIER...AND PALM BEACH. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE REST OF SOUTH FLORIDA. STAYED TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. HANDEL
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI, FL
255 PM EST THU MAR 27 2003
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0228 PM 3 MILES NORTH OF NAPLES FL TORNADO...A TORNADO WAS
REPORTED BY THE COLLIER
COUNTY EOC AND THE NAPLES
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER
THAT A TORNADO TOUCHED
DOWN. THERE WAS A 200
YARD PATH OF DAMAGE TREES
AND PLANTS.The Miami radar (KAMX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:39 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Funnel clouds were reported in Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington.
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, March 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: 5344672.