Several days of dry weather promoted dangerous fire conditions across inland North Florida. A wildfire was first reported by Gilchrist Emergency Management around 5:20 pm EDT on April 30th, and this fire was located approximately 4 miles east-northeast of Trenton.
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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 JAX wrote it up.
Several days of dry weather promoted dangerous fire conditions across inland North Florida. A wildfire was first reported by Gilchrist Emergency Management around 5:20 pm EDT on April 30th, and this fire was located approximately 4 miles east-northeast of Trenton. At the time of the first report, the cause of the fire was unknown.
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 Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 30, 1:28 PM EST, 2 hours 52 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
228 PM EDT WED APR 30 2008
.SHORT TERM...HIGH PRESSURE SFC AND ALOFT DOMINATES THE REGION AS
SEEN ON SATELLITE IMAGERY WITH SUNNY SKIES OVER THE ENTIRE SERN
U.S. AND ADJACENT GULF AND ATLANTIC WATERS. CURRENTLY THE SFC HIGH
IS ANALYZED FROM CTRL GA TO CTRL NC WITH NE TO EAST WINDS AT THE
COAST AND VARIABLE ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE LOCAL AREA.
CLEAR SKIES TONIGHT WILL PROMOTE RADIATIONAL COOLING WITH MINS
WELL BELOW NORMAL AGAIN. RECORDS WERE BROKEN THIS MORN AT SEVERAL
PLACES AND COULD BE TIED OR BROKEN AGAIN TONIGHT.
RECORD LOW TEMPS FOR MAY 1ST...
JAX 47/2000
GNV 47/1908
AMG 45/1963
SSI 50/1963
ONSHORE WINDS WILL CONTINUE THRU SATURDAY MAINTAINING MILDER TEMPS
AT THE COAST. A WARMING TREND WILL BEGIN THURSDAY WITH TEMPS
RETURNING TO NORMAL BY THE WEEKEND. THE MEAN 1000-500 MB HIGH
CURRENTLY NEAR THE FL PANHANDLE WILL DRIFT OVER THE LOCAL AREA
THU BEFORE EMERGING INTO THE ATLANTIC FRI. THIS WILL KEEP MOSTLY
SUNNY SKIES OVER THE AREA EVEN WITH TH INFLUX OF LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE. PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES RETURN SATURDAY WITH WINDS BECOMING
MORE SWLY EXCEPT NEAR THE EAST COAST AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES
FROM THE NW. WILL GO WITH A SLGT CHANCE FOR TSTMS MOVING INTO SE
GA LATE SATURDAY NIGHT.
.LONG TERM...THE COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH THE LOCAL AREA
ACCOMPANIED BY SCT SHOWERS AND TSTMS. THE BEST DYNAMICS APPEARS TO
BE OVER SE GA DURING MID DAY WITH DWINDLING POPS LATER IN THE AFTN
AS THE FRONT DRIFTS SE. LINGERING CLOUDINESS BEHIND THE FRONT WILL
MOVE OUT OF THE AREA BY MON AFTN AS DRIER AIR POURS IN. LATEST GFS
INDICATES A WEAK SHORTWAVE ALONG WITH SEABREEZES BRINGING A RETURN
OF CLOUDS TUE-WED. UNCERTAINTY EXISTS AS TO EXTENT OF POPS AND
HAVE LOWERED TO BELOW 10% TUE AND BELOW 20% WED.
&&
.AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST THROUGH THURSDAY.
NO CIGS OR REDUCED VSBYS EXPECTED.
&&
.MARINE...EASTERLY SWELLS WITH PERIODS UP TO 13 SECONDS OBSERVED AT
OFFSHORE BOUYS BUT SEA HEIGHTS ONLY 2 TO 3 FEET. QUIET CONDITIONS
WILL CONTINUE AS WINDS VEER TO EAST AND SOUTHEAST THROUGH FRIDAY. A
COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY PUSH ACROSS THE WATERS LATE THIS WEEKEND WITH
SCEC CONDITIONS POSSIBLE OFFSHORE AS WINDS/SEAS INCREASE.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...VERY DRY AIRMASS OVER THE AREA WITH DEWPOINTS
FALLING INTO THE 30S THIS AFTERNOON. RED FLAG CONDITIONS OCCURRING
OVER ALL OF NE FL. WITH ONSHORE WINDS RHS WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE
NEAR THE EAST COAST THE NEXT FEW DAYS BUT CRITICALLY LOW RHS STILL
EXPECTED OVER INLAND NE FL THROUGH FRIDAY.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AMG 48 84 54 85 / 0 0 0 0
SSI 55 75 63 79 / 0 0 0 0
JAX 50 81 58 82 / 0 0 0 0
SGJ 58 78 62 80 / 0 0 0 0
GNV 49 85 54 86 / 0 0 0 0
OCF 50 85 55 86 / 0 0 0 0
&&
.JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR ALACHUA-BAKER-
BRADFORD-COLUMBIA-GILCHRIST-HAMILTON-MARION-SUWANNEE-UNION.
FIRE WEATHER WATCH FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY
EVENING FOR ALACHUA-BAKER-BRADFORD-COLUMBIA-GILCHRIST-
HAMILTON-MARION-SUWANNEE-UNION-DUVAL-NASSAU-CLAY-PUTNAM.
RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR CLAY-DUVAL-
FLAGLER-NASSAU-PUTNAM-ST JOHNS.
GA...NONE.
AM...NONE.
&&
TRABERT/ZIBURAHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL 332 AM EDT WED APR 30 2008 FLZ020>025-030>033-035>038-040-GAZ132>136-149>154-162>166-011000- HAMILTON-SUWANNEE-COLUMBIA-BAKER-NASSAU-DUVAL-UNION-BRADFORD-CLAY- ST JOHNS-GILCHRIST-ALACHUA-PUTNAM-FLAGLER-MARION-COFFEE- JEFF DAVIS-BACON-APPLING-WAYNE-ATKINSON-WARE-PIERCE-BRANTLEY- INLAND GLYNN-COASTAL GLYNN-ECHOLS-CLINCH-CHARLTON-INLAND CAMDEN- COASTAL CAMDEN- 332 AM EDT WED APR 30 2008 THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... THE FIRE DANGER WILL REMAIN ELEVATED THIS AFTERNOON FOR ALL NORTHEAST FLORIDA COUNTIES DUE TO LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... THE FIRE DANGER WILL REMAIN ELEVATED THURSDAY AFTERNOON FOR INLAND NORTHEAST FLORIDA COUNTIES DUE TO LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY. THE NEXT FRONTAL SYSTEM MAY PRODUCE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ON SATURDAY AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE WEBSITE ON THE INTERNET AT WEATHER.GOV/JAX.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A wildfire was reported by Gilchrist County Emergency Management around 5:20 pm EDT. At the time, no homes were threatened. Tyler Grade Road was closed. By 11:31 pm EDT, the fire was 1,000 acres.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, April 2008
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: 85428.