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 May 18, 5:53 PM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 653 PM EDT WED MAY 18 2005 ...WILL UPDATE EARLY TO TAKE RAIN CHANCE OUT OF INLAND AREAS... ONLY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WERE FOUND FROM CLEARWATER THROUGH CEDAR KEY ALONG THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE FRONT AS IT PASSED INTO THE GULF AT 630 PM. I CAN ONLY FIND THREE REASONS WHY THE CONVECTION IS SO MUCH MORE LIMITED TODAY VS YESTERDAY. VAD WIND PROFILE SHOWED WINDS EAST-NORTHEAST 15-20 KTS FROM THE SURFACE THROUGH 7000 FT...WHICH IS NOT FAVORABLE FOR STRONG CONVERGENCE ALONG THE GULF COAST SEA BREEZE THAT REMAINED ANCHORED ALONG THE COAST. A TEMP INVERSION AROUND 10K FT HELPED TO FLATTEN THE CONVECTION THAT DID DEVELOP. WINDS ABOVE 10K FT WERE WESTERLY SO ANY STORM UPDRAFTS WERE SHEARED APART. MODELS SHOWED TEMPS WARMED 3 DEGREES AT 500 MB DURING THE DAY WHICH WOULD HELP TO LOWER THE INSTABILITY. WILL TAKE OUT MENTION OF ALL RAIN INLAND. BRIEF SHOWER COULD DEVELOP OVER PINELLAS COUNTY AS EAST COAST SEA BREEZE NOT COMPLETELY THROUGH ACCORDING TO DOPPLER. WILL HANDLE WITH SHORT TERM FORECAST IF THAT HAPPENS. && .MARINE...LIGHT WINDS AND LOW SEAS MEAN NO HIGHLIGHTS. && && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && NOAH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 525 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2005 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-181430- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 525 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: ANOTHER IN A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL MOVE OVER THE REGION TODAY IN A WARM AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE. DAYTIME HEATING WILL AGAIN COMBINE WITH SEA BREEZE COLLISIONS TO GENERATE SLOW MOVING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING. GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS. 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...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED IN THE AFTERNOONS AND EVENINGS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED. && FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE)
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:10 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning sparked a fire that destroyed the Polk County Traffic Engineering and Operations Building. The complex and vehicles within the complex near Spirit Lake Road were a complete loss. The main building was very old and was not equipped with a sprinkler system.
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, May 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: 5449043.