1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 24, 1:45 PM EST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 245 PM EDT SAT MAY 24 2003 CURRENTLY... WEAK LOW PRESSURE AREA CONTINUES THE AREA. DEWPOINTS IN LOWER 70S BUT 60S N AND E OF FA. AFTERNOON CONVECTION DEVELOPED INLAND FROM THE COAST AND CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST. SHORT TERM (TON-MON)...MAIN MID/UPPER TROF STAYS TO WEST WITH WEAK SHORT WAVES ROTATING THROUGH. WEAK SURFACE PATTERN WITH RIDGE TO SOUTH WITH S-W FLOW FAVORS CONVECTION OVER THE WATER AT NIGHT AND DEVELOPMENT INTO INLAND LAND AREAS DURING THE AFTERNOON. EXTENDED (TUE-SAT)...UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL REMAIN OVER EASTERN U.S. THROUGH THURSDAY WITH SURFACE RIDGE AXIS REMAINING SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. GFS STILL INDICATING THAT A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE DOWN THE PENINSULA TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN BUILD OVER THE FORECAST AREA FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK. THIS WILL BRING IN SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR AND WITH RAIN CHANCES GENERALLY LESS THAN 20 PERCENT WILL LEAVE RAIN OUT OF FORECAST AT THIS TIME. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN NEAR SEASONAL NORMALS THROUGH THE PERIOD. MARINE... GENERALLY LIGHT FLOW ACROSS THE WATERS. SST WARMING WITH NIGHT TIME CONVECTION. FIRE WEATHER... WIND RH AND DISPERSION BELOW CRITIERIA. CCFTBW TPA BB 074/088 075/088 074 03222 FMY BB 072/091 075/091 074 03222 GIF BB 072/091 074/091 072 03444 SRQ BB 074/086 076/086 073 03222 BKV BB 068/090 069/090 068 03222 .TBW...NONE. CP/PRC
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-241600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 540 AM EDT SAT MAY 24 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA AGAIN TODAY...FIRST ALONG THE COAST EARLY THIS MORNING THEN INLAND BY LATE MORNING. A WATERSPOUT OR TWO IS POSSIBLE THIS MORNING WITH THE COASTAL SHOWERS. MARINERS AND COASTAL RESIDENTS SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER FOR WATERSPOUT DEVELOPMENT. THE MAIN THREATS FROM TODAYS STORMS WILL BE FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND BECAUSE THE STORMS WILL MOVE VERY SLOWLY...LOCALIZED VERY HEAVY RAIN AND MINOR FLOODING IS POSSIBLE. 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...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: ALTHOUGH AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE PERIOD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Trained spotter watched the funnel cloud for 15 minutes and it breifly touched down in an open field once. Law enforcement closed parts of Highway 60 for a short time but the funnel remained south of the highway.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2003Warnings 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: 5357794.