2 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 Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 16, 2:05 PM EST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 205 PM EST TUE MAR 16 2004 .DISCUSSION...SATELLITE LOOP INDICATING A GOOD DIVERGENT PATTERN OVERHEAD AND MOVING TO THE EAST AND SOUTHEAST. THIS WILL SUSTAIN SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED STORMS INTO THE EVENING...FOLLOWED BY DECREASING CLOUDINESS LATE TONIGHT AS FRONTAL BOUNDARY CLEARS CENTRAL FLORIDA PER THE ETA/MESO ETA SOLUTIONS. THIS TIMING SEEMS MORE REASONABLE THAN THE FASTER GFS/NGM AFTER LOOKING AT THE LATEST WATER VAPOR LOOP WHERE THE 250MB JET IS STILL BACK OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND THE PATTERN IS FLATTENING OUT OVER THE GULF. PLAN TO HOLD POPS IN SCATTERED CATEGORY TO COVER THE EARLY EVENING PERIOD...BASED ON CONTINUING DIVERGENT 250MB PATTERN OVERHEAD. WILL THEN DROP MENTION OF PRECIP BY MIDNIGHT WITH BOUNDARY/WIND SHIFT. WED-FRI...SKIES CLEAR WEDNESDAY MORNING AS MID LEVEL TROUGH AXIS PASSES. COOL/DRY ADVECTION ON NW FLOW WILL HOLD MAX TEMPS IN THE COMFORTABLE 70S AREAWIDE WEDNESDAY UNDER PLENTIFUL SUNSHINE. COOLEST MORNING LIKELY TO BE THURSDAY...GENERALLY 45-50 DEGREES. W/NW FLOW ALOFT WILL KEEP ATMOSPHERE SUPRESSED WITH MINIMAL DEEP LAYER MOISTURE. SURFACE HIGH WILL ADVANCE FROM THE GULF TO WED-FRI... PASSING DIRECTLY OVER THE CENTRAL PENINSULA THURSDAY...ALLOWING WINDS TO BECOME LIGHT. TEMPS THU/FRI WILL INCH UPWARD A FEW DEGREES EACH DAY...RETURNING CLOSE TO CLIMO. SAT-TUE...BROAD CYCLONIC FLOW PREVAILS OVER THE EASTERN U.S. THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH PASSAGE OF SEVERAL WEAK SHORTWAVES. DEEP LAYER MOISTURE REMAINS SPARSE AND WILL CONTINUE WITH DRY FORECAST. IN THE WAKE OF DRY FROPA FRIDAY...SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD NORTH OF THE REGION...PROVIDING A BRIEF PERIOD OF ONSHORE FLOW SATURDAY. BY SUNDAY...THE SURFACE HIGH ELONGATES AND THE RIDGE AXIS DROPS TOWARD CENTRAL FLORIDA CAUSING THE GRADIENT WIND FLOW TO WEAKEN. ANOTHER FROPA SLATED FOR MONDAY ASSOCIATED WITH A LITTLE STRONGER SHORTWAVE...BUT FOR NOW WILL LEAVE OUT POPS AND SHOW PERIOD OF ENHANCED CLOUD COVER. HIGH PRESSURE WILL LIKELY REBUILD ALONG THE MID ATLANTIC COAST TUESDAY...QUICKLY RETURNING AN ONSHORE FLOW. LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPS INDICATED THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH CLIMO MAXS/MINS EXPECTED...NEAR 80/60 DEGREES. && .MARINE...GRADIENT SUPPORTS EXERCISE CAUTION CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT AS PREFRONTAL SW FLOW SHIFTS TO NW. STATIFORM RAIN AREA OVER THE COASTAL WATERS MAY RESULT IN A TEMPORARY LULL OF WINDS...BUT STRONGER FLOW LIKELY TO RESUME AFTERWARDS. OFFSHORE FLOW LIKELY TO REMAIN IN 15-20 KNOT RANGE THROUGH WED/WED NIGHT...BEFORE VEERING TO NE AND WEAKENING BY EARLY THURSDAY. WINDS WILL QUICKLY VEER TO ONSHORE AFTER NEXT FROPA FRIDAY...REMAINING NEAR MARGINAL SCEC LEVELS FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY. ONSHORE WINDS WILL DIMINISH SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY AS RIDGE AXIS DROPS SOUTH TO THE REGION...HOWEVER WILL CONTINUE TO HOLD SEAS ABOVE PURE WIND WAVE COMPONENT DUE TO LIKELIHOOD OF RESIDUAL EASTERLY SWELL...IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH NOAA WAVEWATCH MODEL. && .FIRE WEATHER...EXPECT DURATIONS OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY NEAR 35 PERCENT CLOSE TO 4 HOURS OVER MUCH OF INTERIOR WEDNESDAY...WITH EVEN LONGER DURATIONS POSSIBLE THURSDAY. WILL ISSUE FIRE WX WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. LATER SHIFTS CAN ISSUE WATCH FOR THURSDAY IF WARRANTED. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DAB 58 74 50 76 / 30 0 0 0 MCO 60 78 48 80 / 30 0 0 0 MLB 61 76 50 77 / 30 0 0 0 VRB 61 77 51 77 / 30 0 0 0 && .MLB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FIRE WEATHER WATCH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON FOR INTERIOR VOLUSIA...LAKE... ORANGE...SEMINOLE...AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES. && SHORT TERM...WIMMER LONG TERM...SPRATT
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 901 AM EST TUE MAR 16 2004 AMZ550-555-570-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-144-147- 162200- COASTAL VOLUSIA-COCOA BEACH TO JUPITER INLET 20 NM TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- COCOA BEACH TO JUPITER INLET OUT TO 20 NM- FLAGLER BEACH TO COCOA BEACH 20 NM TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- FLAGLER BEACH TO COCOA BEACH OUT TO 20 NM-INDIAN RIVER- INLAND VOLUSIA-MARTIN-NORTHERN BREVARD-NORTHERN LAKE-OKEECHOBEE- ORANGE-OSCEOLA-SEMINOLE-SOUTHERN BREVARD-SOUTHERN LAKE-ST. LUCIE- 901 AM EST TUE MAR 16 2004 .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... A SURFACE TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE AND AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL COMBINE WITH DEEP ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE TO PRODUCE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND A FEW LIGHTNING STORMS ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA TODAY. THE MAIN HAZARD FROM STORMS TODAY WILL BE DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND A FEW STRONGER STORMS MAY PRODUCE WIND GUSTS OF AROUND 45 MPH. ...FLOOD IMPACT... HEAVY DOWNPOURS MAY LEAD TO TEMPORARY FLOODING OF STREETS AND OTHER LOW LYING OR POORLY DRAINED AREAS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHERN SECTIONS OF LAKE AND VOLUSIA COUNTIES WHERE HEAVY RAINS OCCURRED ON MONDAY. ...WIND AND SEA IMPACT... BOATERS ON THE INTRACOASTAL AND ATLANTIC WATERS SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION FOR SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 20 KNOTS WITH 4 TO 6 FOOT SEAS. ...MARINE THUNDERSTORM GUST IMPACT... MARINE INTERESTS SHOULD ALSO BE ALERT FOR STORMS MOVING ACROSS THE COAST FROM THE MAINLAND...PRODUCING CLOUD TO WATER LIGHTNING STRIKES AND CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS OF 35 KNOTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE REQUESTED TO MONITOR THE WEATHER AND SELF ACTIVATE IF NEEDED. 15
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:14 UTC.
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
An F0 tornado touched down briefly along US Highway 708 about 5 miles west of Hobe Sound. The tornado struck an animal hospital, damaging the roof of the structure, overturning a small trailer and damaging the roof of a barn. A few trees were also blown down
The F0 tornado that touched down to the west lifted for about five miles and then touched down briefly in the Banner Lake area of Hobe Sound near the intersection of Federal Highway and US Highway 708. The only reported damage was a few downed trees and power lines.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2004Warnings in Florida, March 2004
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: 5387646, 5387647.