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 Apr 8, 8:27 AM EST, 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 927 AM EDT FRI APR 8 2005 .UPDATE...SURFACE FRONTAL BOUNDARY NOT QUITE AS FAR SOUTH AS MODELS HAD PROJECTED...BUT IT IS CLEARING THE FORT MYERS AREA AT THIS TIME. LARGE UPPER-LEVEL LOW CURRENTLY OVER GEORGIA IS SLIDING EAST- SOUTHEAST...WITH COLD MID-LEVEL TEMPERATURES ADVECTING INTO THE STATE. 12Z TBW SOUNDING HAS PLENTY OF MOISTURE BELOW 650MB BUT VERY DRY ABOVE THAT. PRECIPITABLE WATERS ARE RIGHT AROUND AN INCH ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL FLORIDA...BUT THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS DO MOISTEN BACK UP AS YOU GO NORTH...CLOSER TO THE LARGE UPPER-LEVEL LOW. MAIN CONCERN FOR TODAY WILL BE THE POSSIBILITY OF SHOWERS AND EVEN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS AS SURFACE HEATING COMBINED WITH COLD MID-LEVELS WILL LEAD TO STEEP LAPSE RATES. SINCE CONVECTION WILL REQUIRE A GOOD AMOUNT OF SURFACE HEATING...EXPECT ACTIVITY TO BE MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON OVER CENTRAL AND NORTHERN AREAS...ALTHOUGH DEEPER MOISTURE SOUTH WILL FAVOR SHOWERS AT ANY TIME. WINDS ARE FAIRLY STRONG IN THE STEERING COLUMN...SO EXPECT MOST SHOWERS AND STORMS TO BE WELL INLAND AWAY FROM THE COAST THIS AFTERNOON. THERE IS STILL SOME POSSIBILITY OF HAIL WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS DUE TO THE COLDER AIR ALOFT. WILL UPDATE GRIDS AND MORNING FORECAST TO SHOW PARTLY CLOUDY NORTH RATHER THAN MOSTLY CLOUDY. OTHERWISE WILL JUST CLEAN UP THE WORDING IN THE ZONES. && .MARINE...SEAS ARE STILL RUNNING 6 FEET OUT AT BUOY 42036 ALTHOUGH WINDS ARE ONLY AROUND 10 KNOTS. HEATING OF THE FLORIDA LAND MASS WILL ALLOW SOME LIFT...WITH A GULF BREEZE DEVELOPING AND ENHANCING THE ONSHORE WINDS. WINDS ALOFT ARE PRETTY STRONG...SO EXPECT WINDS TO COME UP TO 10 TO 15 KNOTS. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS GOOD SO JUST MINOR TWEAKS FOR THE LATE MORNING PACKAGE. && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && JILLSON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 501 AM EDT FRI APR 8 2005 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-081401- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 501 AM EDT FRI APR 8 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: A VIGOROUS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER GEORGIA WILL DRAG A COLD FRONT ACROSS THE PENINSULA TODAY. DESPITE THE COOLER AIR FILTERING IN BEHIND THE FRONT...ENOUGH INSTABILITY WILL REMAIN TO GENERATE A FEW THUNDERSTORMS...WITH THE BEST CHANCES AS YOU GO FURTHER SOUTH. DURATIONS FOR ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE BRIEF...BUT THE STRONGER STORMS MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL. ALSO...THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT AREA BEACHES TODAY. A RIP CURRENT IS A 10 TO 30 YARD WIDE CHANNEL OF WATER THAT CAN PULL EVEN A STRONG SWIMMER INTO DEEPER WATER. TO AVOID GETTING CAUGHT IN A RIP CURRENT...SWIM AT GUARDED BEACHES AND HEED THE ADVICE OF THE BEACH PATROL. AT UNGUARDED BEACHES AND NEAR PIERS...JETTIES... AND INLETS...DO NOT GO INTO THE SURF MUCH ABOVE YOUR KNEES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. RJS
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:37 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A golfer was struck while walking on the fairway toward a ball. The sun was shining at the golf course at the time of the strike but isolated thunderstorms were moving onshore near the course.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Lee | 2005-04-08 | 39 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, April 2005
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: 5447988.