Isolated thunderstorms developed along the bay breeze front in the Tampa Bay area by mid-afternoon. The west coast sea breeze front moved inland by evening and collided with the east coast sea breeze front.
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 episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
Isolated thunderstorms developed along the bay breeze front in the Tampa Bay area by mid-afternoon. The west coast sea breeze front moved inland by evening and collided with the east coast sea breeze front. This created a line of storms from Lakeland to Fort Myers. The outflow from these storms moved back to the west and more storms were found in the Tampa Bay area late in the evening.
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 Jul 18, 12:20 PM EST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 120 PM EDT WED JUL 18 2007 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT - FRI)...GFS/NAM/ECMWF/UKMET ALL CONTINUE TO INDICATE A 500 MB RIDGE ACROSS FL THAT SLIDES WESTWARD SOME BEFORE SHIFTING SOUTH BY THE END OF THE PERIOD AS AN UPPER TROUGH DEEPENS SOUTHWARD...SAGGING A FRONTAL BOUNDARY INTO THE SE U.S. BY THE END OF THE WORK WEEK. MEANWHILE AT THE SURFACE...A BROAD RIDGE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL FL/ FROM THE ATLANTIC/ SLOWLY MOVES SOUTH...TO CENTRAL FL THU AND SOUTH-CENTRAL FL FRI. THIS WILL SLOWLY VEER THE LOW LEVEL FLOW FROM SE FOR MUCH OF THE AREA TO SOUTH AND THEN SOUTHWESTERLY. THE ENVIRONMENT REMAINS RATHER MOIST AND UNSTABLE WITH SCATTERED (30-40 POPS) AFTERNOON STORMS BUT ISOLATED LATE MORNING & EVENING. TEMPERATURES WILL RUN AT OR A COUPLE OF DEGREES ABOVE THANKS TO A COMBINATION OF UPPER RIDGING AND THE TRANSITION FROM SE TO S AND SW FLOW. .LONG TERM (FRI NIGHT-WED)...NOT EXPECTING MUCH CHANGE OVER THE EXTENDED PERIOD. GFS CONTINUES TO ADVERTISE THE TROUGH ALONG THE EASTERN SEABOARD WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH MONDAY BUT WILL START LIFTING TO THE NORTH BY TUESDAY AS A STRONG RIDGING PATTERN TAKES SHAPE ACROSS MUCH OF THE U.S. A VERY WEAK FRONT WILL INCH ITS WAY THROUGH THE DEEP SOUTH DURING THE WEEKEND AND WASH OUT AS IT DRIFTS OFF THE SOUTHEASTERN US COAST. LOCALLY...RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE FLORIDA PENINSULA THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. POPS WILL REMAIN AT AROUND 40 PERCENT EACH DAY WITH AFTERNOON CONVECTION. EXPECT TEMPERATURES TO BE IN THE LOW 90S AND OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE MID 70S. && .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS GENERALLY EXPECTED EXCEPT TEMPO MVFR IN SCATTERED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. && .MARINE...WEAK AND BROAD SURFACE RIDGE MEANDERING ACROSS FL AND THE EASTERN GULF WILL KEEP WINDS & SEAS GENERALLY LIGHT INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. MAIN MARINE THREAT WILL BE TSTMS WITH HIGHER WINDS/SEAS. && .FIRE WEATHER...NO HIGHLIGHTS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TPA 78 92 77 93 / 30 40 30 30 FMY 76 93 76 94 / 30 40 30 40 GIF 76 94 76 95 / 20 30 20 30 SRQ 75 91 76 92 / 30 40 30 40 BKV 73 92 73 93 / 20 30 20 30 SPG 79 90 80 91 / 30 40 30 30 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...NONE. GULF WATERS...NONE. && SHORT TERM/MARINE...RKR LONG TERM/AVIATION...AW/CP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 522 AM EDT WED JUL 18 2007 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-181800- LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK- MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DE SOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE- 522 AM EDT WED JUL 18 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... A SURFACE RIDGE AXIS REMAINS OVER THE NORTH FLORIDA PENINSULA TODAY IN A MOIST AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE CREATING A FAIRLY TYPICAL SOUTHEAST FLOW SUMMERTIME CONVECTIVE PATTERN. THE WEST COAST SEA BREEZE WILL DEVELOP WITH ISOLATED STORMS FORMING NEAR THE WEST COAST EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE IN THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON GENERALLY NEAR THE INTERSTATE 75 CORRIDOR...AS OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES AND THE EAST AND WEST COAST SEA BREEZES MERGE AND THEN DRIFT WESTWARD INTO THE EVENING. OVER THE COASTAL WATERS...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN ISOLATED EXCEPT NEAR SHORE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS STORMS MOVE BACK TOWARDS THE COAST. THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP TODAY WILL CONTAIN HEAVY DOWNPOURS... GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. A FEW OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME STRONG AND CONTAIN SMALL HAIL THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. IF A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES YOUR LOCATION...MOVE INDOORS IMMEDIATELY. REMEMBER... IF YOU CAN HEAR THE THUNDER THEN YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE STORM TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER AND SELF ACTIVATE IF NEEDED. DAVIS
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:38 UTC.
3 hail, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous reports of a long-lived funnel cloud were received. Pictures of the funnel looked as if the funnel touched down and became a tornado. However, local broadcast media storm teams canvassed the area and found no signs of a touch down.
One inch hail was reported by Emergency Management.
Penny size hail was reported near the Edison Bridge near Oak Street and 7th Way.
Quarter size hail was reported near Bay Shore and Business Highway 41.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, July 2007
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: 39972, 39976, 39981, 39985.