Thunderstorms moved south along the sea breeze front through the Citrus Springs and Hernando areas with multiple reports of one to two inch size hail.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
Thunderstorms moved south along the sea breeze front through the Citrus Springs and Hernando areas with multiple reports of one to two inch size hail.
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 May 18, 1:30 PM EST, 37 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 910 AM EDT SUN MAY 18 2003 THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON AND MOISTURE IS IN PLACE. THE SEABREEZE WAS A LITTLE SLOW TO DEVELOP BUT IT IS STARTING TO COME AROUND AS OF THE LAST OB OR TWO. THE EAST COAST SEABREEZE AND ITS RELATED CONVECTION IS MARCHING ACROSS THE STATE. I EXPECT SOME THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH SOME POTENTIALLY STRONG ONES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AFTER THE EAST COAST SEABREEZE MAKES IT TO THE AREA. MONDAY AFTERNOON WILL SEE MORE OF THE SAME EXCEPT FOR FOR CONSIDERABLE SPEED DIVERGENCE ALOFT AS AIR ACCELERATES INTO AN UPPER LOW IN THE CENTRAL GULF. THE UPPER LOW...AND ITS REALLY KIND OF DEEP WILL SLOWLY FILL AS IT DRIFTS SOUTHWARD OUT OF MISSISSIPPI AND INTO THE YUCATAN CHANNEL. THE MAIN TROUGH OR WHAT EVENTUALLY BECOMES THE MAIN TROUGH SINKS SOUTH FROM NEW ENGLAND TO EAST OF THE STATE. THE UPPER LOW IN THE GULF EVENTUALLY GETS DISSOLVED INTO MAIN TROUGH. BY MIDWEEK OR SO A FRONT DRIFTS INTO SOUTH GEORGIA THE PUSHING THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE SOUTHWARD. THE SURFACE LOW JUST KIND OF SITS OVER NORTHEAST FLORIDA THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK. NO MARINE OR FIRE WEATHER ISSUES PRELIMINARY NUMBERS TPA 090/073 089/073 3635 FMY 092/072 091/073 3635 GIF 092/071 091/071 2625 SRQ 089/074 088/072 3635 BKV 090/069 089/069 2635 .TBW...NONE. SOBIEN
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-181530- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 532 AM EDT SUN MAY 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: A COMBINATION OF AN WEAK UPPER LOW OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO AND AFTERNOON SEA BREEZES WILL CREATE FAVORBALE CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS...MANILY BETWEEN 2 AND 10 PM. SOME THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LOCALLY STRONG WITH WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH...RAINFALL RATES OF 2 INCHES PER HOUR...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND HAIL. WHEN SKIES DARKEN...MOVE INDOORS. IF THERE IS TIME...UNPLUG APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. WAIT UNTIL THE STORM ENDS BEFORE USING THE TELEPHONE OR RUNNING WATER. DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: A WARM AND HUMID AIR MASS WILL BE IN PLACE OVER FLORIDA THIS WEEK...ALLOWING FOR SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. .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
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 142 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:07 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
The fire chief reported nearly 20 minutes of hail which caused broken windshields and dented hoods to vehicles along with broken windows to some residences.
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, May 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: 5357714.