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 Oct 21, 8:25 AM EST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 925 AM EDT THU OCT 21 2004 .DISCUSSION...LONG WAVE TROF OFF THE E COAST AND RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE W GULF OF MEX. WEAK TROF AND CONVERGENCE ZONE FROM ACROSS THE NORTHERN BAHAMAS WEST AND THEN NORTHWESTWARD ACROSS FMY AND OFFSHORE OF TAMPA BAY. A FEW SHOWERS THIS MORNING OFFSHORE OF FMY. MODELS CONTINUE TO PROG A WEAK MIDLEVEL SHORT WAVE TO MOVE ACROSS THE STATE FROM N TO S LATER TODAY. FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS...MORNING SOUNDING SUGGESTS THE LOW CLOUDS AND FOG SHOULD BEGIN TO BREAK UP THIS MORNING ONCE THE SUN CAN BREAK THRU AND GET THE MIXING GOING. THEN...EXPECTING WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THE COVERGENCE ZONE AND SUPPORTED BY THE MID LEVEL SHORT WAVE. GUIDANCE ALSO SUGGESTS THE E COAST SEA BREEZE MAY PUSH WELL TO THE W TOWARD OUR CWA...THUS PROVIDING AN INITIAL LIFTING MECHANISM FOR OUR EASTERN ZONES FIRST...THEN THE ACTIVITY TO EVENTUALLY SHIFT WESTWARD DURING THE AFTERNOON. AS SUCH...WILL UPDATE THE MORNING PACKAGE TO EXTEND THE WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS/TSTMS TO THE WEST TO COVER OUR ENTIRE FORECAST AREA. THIS AFTERNOON ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE TO SHIFT WESTWARD THEN DIMINISH DURING THE EVENING. FOR TEMPS TODAY...WITH THE EXPECTATION OF THE LOW CLOUDS MIXING OUT...WILL CONTINUE WITH CURRENT FORECAST HIGHS OF MID 80S NORTH AND UPPER 80S SOUTH. && .MARINE...NNW WINDS AROUND 10 KT AND SEAS AROUND 2 FT EXPECTED THE REMAINDER OF TODAY. THE EXCEPTION WOULD BE NEAR TSTMS...WHICH MAY RESULT IN LOCALLY HIGHER WIND AND WAVES...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && NP/RD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 524 AM EDT THU OCT 21 2004 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-211522- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 524 AM EDT THU OCT 21 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING SOUTH OVER FLORIDA ALONG WITH AMPLE MOISTURE AND A EAST COAST SEA BREEZE MOVING ACROSS THE STATE WILL ALL COMBINE THIS AFTERNOON TO PRODUCE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. THESE WILL START FIRST OVER THE INLAND COUNTIES AND THEN SHIFT WEST TO COASTAL COUNTIES DURING THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. THE GREATEST THREAT WILL BE OCCASIONAL CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS...AND BRIEF BUT HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY: NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .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 (LOWER CASE) 09
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:30 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A home was struck by lightning, which caused a fire that spread throughout the attic and eventually consumed much of the house. There were no injuries.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, October 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: 5427712.