Three men drowned from rip currents at Panama City Beach on August 3 and 4.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 episode as NWS TAE wrote it up.
Three men drowned from rip currents at Panama City Beach on August 3 and 4.
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 Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 2:59 AM EST, 5 hours 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED FOR LONG TERM/AVN SECTIONS. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL 355 AM SUN AUG 3 2008 .SYNOPSIS... DURING THE LATE EVENING...STRONG CONVECTIVE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY PROPAGATED SSW FROM CNTRL GA TO NRN MOST CWA GA COUNTIES BEFORE DYING OFF AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WERE LIKELY GENERATED WITH THIS BOUNDARY IN LEE...TURNER AND WORTH COUNTIES. AT 3 AM EDT...PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES PREVAILED ACROSS LOCAL AREA. TEMPS RANGED FROM LOW 70S NORTH TO NEAR 80 PANHANDLE COAST. 24 HR TEMP/DEW POINT COMPARISON INDICATES LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPERATURE AND ONLY SLIGHT DRYING...MAINLY EAST OF APALACH RIVER COMPARED TO SAME TIME YESTERDAY. WINDS WERE GENERALLY CALM TO LIGHT SWLY. AT UPPER LEVELS... LARGE SCALE CONUS PATTERN REMAINS AMPLIFIED...ESPECIALLY FOR EARLY AUGUST. IT IS HIGHLIGHTED BY TROUGH ACROSS WEST COAST...DOMINANT RIDGE ACROSS CENTRAL PORTIONS AND TROUGH OVER ERN CONUS. IN THE SRN STREAM...LARGE HIGH WITH HEAT RIDGE FROM CALIF EWD TO ALA AND ANOTHER HIGH IN WRN ATLC OFF FL WITH ERN TROUGH AXIS EXTENDING SWWD BETWEEN BOTH HIGHS. DURING THE DAY TODAY...BOTH THE GFS AND NAM MODELS SUGGEST THAT PAC TROUGH WILL LIFT NEWD ACROSS WRN US/CANADIAN BORDER. EJECTING SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE EWD INTO UPR GREAT LAKES FLATTENING RIDGE OVER THE NRN PLAINS/UPPER MS VALLEY WHILE ERN TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO LIFT NEWD INTO ADJACENT ATLC. BY MONDAY..PAC H5 TROUGH BEGINS TO MOVE SEWD TOWARD NRN PLAINS FURTHER SUPPRESSING RIDGE WHILE ERN TROUGH MOVES FURTHER OFFSHORE. AT LOWER LEVELS... MAIN CONUS FEATURE IS LOW SD/NEB BORDER WITH COLD FRONT NEWD ACROSS UPR GREAT LAKES AND QSTNRY FRONT SSE TO ARK AND THEN EWD ACROSS SRN TENN VALLEY AND ENE TO LOW IN NJ. SOUTH OF FRONT...A HOT AND MOIST AIR MASS PERSISTS. A SURFACE TROUGH EXTENDS FROM NJ LOW SSW TO ACROSS S/CNTRL GA WITH ANOTHER TROF S TO GULF LOW SW OF PENSACOLA. SO...LOCAL AREA IN BETWEEN THIS TROUGH AND RIDGE AXIS ACROSS THE SRN FL PENINSULA. AS TROUGH WEAKENS AND MOVES WWD WITH GULF LOW...RIDGE WILL LIFT NORTH BECOMING POSITIONED ACROSS CNTRL PENINSULA BY MONDAY AND TO NRN PENINSULA BY MIDWEEK. PER MSAS...MOISTURE AXIS HAS SHIFTED WWD WITH ERN EXTENT AROUND DESTIN. THIS REFLECTED IN 00Z REGIONAL SOUNDINGS WHICH SHOW TAE WITH A DECREASE OF 3/4 INCH PWAT (DOWN TO 1.55 IN LAST 24 HRS). REGARDING GULF LOW...MASS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO CONTINUES NEAR THE BASE OF ABOVE ERN TROUGH BETWEEN THE UPPER HIGHS. SATELLITE AND BUOY OBS SHOW A DEFINITE SPIN IN RADAR IMAGERY JUST SW OF BUOY 42039 AND SOME CONVECTION DEVELOPING NEAR THE CENTER. NAM12 STILL IS HAVING SOME TROUBLES RESOLVING SYSTEM WHILE THE GFS CONTINUES TO APPEAR TOO STRONG WITH THE SURFACE AND UPPER LEVEL FEATURES (CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK). PER NHC...PRESSURES ARE ALSO FALLING AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS APPEAR TO BE FAVORABLE FOR SLOW DEVELOPMENT AND THIS SYSTEM COULD BECOME A TROPICAL DEPRESSION DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. EITHER WAY..FOR LOCAL AREA...THE GOOD NEWS THAT THE UPPER RIDGE WILL KEEP SYSTEM OVER THE GULF. CIRCULATION IS MOVING TOWARD THE SW AND MOST GUIDANCE SHOWS IT CONTINUING IN THAT DIRECTION AND THEN TRACKING WWD WITH LA AND/OR TX WITH THE BEST BET TO RECEIVE IMPACT. THIS WOULD ALLOW LOCAL WINDS TO BECOME MORE SLY (SE TODAY...SLY ON MONDAY AND SSW ON TUESDAY KEEPING MOST OF DEEP LAYER MOISTURE WEST OF CWA AND OVER GULF WATERS. HOWEVER ONSHORE LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL MAINTAIN LOCAL PWATS 1.7-1.8 INCHES TRAPPED UNDER HEAR RIDGE TO YIELD HIGH HEAT INDICES. THIS REFLECTED IN MODEL SOUNDINGS. .SHORT TERM...(TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY)... TODAY...SREF CIGS/VSBY PLOTS HAS INITIALIZED WELL OF LATE AND CONTINUE TO SHOW MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS ACROSS MNLY NRN ZONES FIRST FEW HOURS OF DAY SO WILL WILL INCLUDE IN FORECAST. OTHERWISE... TRANSITION DAY AS GULF LOW MOVES W AND ERN TROUGH LIFTS NEWD. WWD JAUNT OF GULF LOW WILL KEEP DEEPEST MOISTURE AND BEST CONVERGENCE W OF CWA. LOCAL AREA LOCATED IN BETWEEN EXITING TROUGH TO THE NORTHEAST AND A TROUGH ASSOCD WITH GULF LOW TO THE SOUTHWEST AND RIDGES TO THE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHEAST. SO MOIST SE LOW LEVEL STEERING FLOW IS OFFSET BY DRIER MID-UPPER LEVEL AIR MOVING IN SO POPS EXPECTED TO BE BELOW SEA BREEZE CLIMO. BEST RAIN CHANCES WILL REMAIN NEAR THE PANHANDLE COAST CLOSEST TO THE GULF DISTURBANCE. SLIGHT CHANCE POPS EXPECTED TO THE NORTH. MAX INLAND TEMPS EXPECTED AROUND 90 SW COAST TO MID 90S NRN GA COUNTIES. TONIGHT...INLAND LOWS IN THE LOWER 70S WITH PATCHY FOG LIKELY ESPECIALLY NRN COUNTIES. MONDAY...SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST STEERING FLOW PERSISTS BUT TUTT LOW OVER WRN CARIB BEGINS TO PULL DEEPER MOISTURE NWWD IMPACTING MAINLY SE THIRD OF CWA. THIS WILL BE SOMEWHAT MITIGATED BY RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BRIDGES ACROSS SE REGION. ONCE AGAIN WILL GO A BIT BELOW POPS EXPECTED FROM SEABREEZE CLIMO. MAX TEMPS WILL INCH UP A DEGREE OR TWO AND WITH A HUMID AIR MASS TRAPPED UNDER THE RIDGE WILL SEND HEAT INDICES TO BETWEEN 105 AND 110...CLOSE TO NEEDING A HEAT ADVISORY. TUESDAY...S/SW STEERING FLOW AS GULF LOW/TROUGH TO MOVE WWD TO ALONG THE TEXAS COAST WITH HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT OCCURRING ACROSS THE WESTERN U.S. AND EXTENDING EASTWARD ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST U.S EXCEPT FOR ERN MOST CWA. HERE...AXIS FROM WRN ATLC TROUGH EXTENDS SWWD TO ACROSS FL WHILE SURFACE RIDGE LIFTING NE TO ACROSS FL-GA LINE. SOUTH OF AXIS...DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE IS ADVECTED FURTHER NWWD WITH SHARP 50-20 PCT SE-NW POP GRADIENT. RIDGING ALOFT OVER MOST OF CWA WILL INCREASE OUR AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES BACK INTO THE LOW-MID 90S NEAR MORE CLOUDY COAST..AND TO THE MID-UPPER 90S ACROSS NRN MOST COUNTIES WITH HEAT INDICES APPROACHING 110 DEGREES. && .LONG TERM (WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY)...LITTLE CHANGE IN THE LARGE SCALE PATTERN THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD...WITH MEAN TROFS JUST OFF THE WEST COAST...AND OVER THE EASTERN U.S. THE TROF OVER THE EAST WILL START OUT RELATIVELY FLAT WITH UPPER LEVEL RIDGING EXTENDING ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST AND HIGH PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE...WHICH WILL SUPPRESS SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WITH POPS BELOW NORMAL AND HIGH TEMPERATURES CLIMBING WELL INTO THE MID 90S. BY THE END OF THE WEEK...ANOTHER SHORT WAVE DROPS INTO THE MEAN TROF...WEAKENING THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE AND PUSHING SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE SOUTHWARD. THIS WILL ALLOW A RETURN OF MOISTURE...ALONG WITH AN INCREASE IN CLOUDS AND SHOWERS...WITH POPS AND HIGH TEMPERATURES RETURNING TO NEAR NORMAL BY THE WEEKEND. && .MARINE...ABOVE GULF LOW IS BEING MONITORED BY NHC FOR POSSIBLE TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT,WHICH WILL PLAY A LARGE PART IN DETERMINING THE WIND FORECAST OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. AS NOTED ABOVE...GFS LOOKS OVERDONE AND FORECAST ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY. BASED ON OBSERVATIONS AT BUOY 42039 S OF PFN, SCEC HEADLINE REMAINS FOR OUR SWRN MARINE LEG AND GENERALLY BRING WINDS UP ABOUT 5 KT ELSEWHERE. WINDS AT THE BUOY HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY IN THE 15-20KT RANGE WITH SEAS RISING TO 5 FT. AS THE THE LOW MOVES FURTHER AWAY LATER TODAY...WINDS SHOULD BEGIN TO DROP OFF. && .AVIATION...THUNDERSTORMS WHICH DEVELOPED OVER NORTHERN GEORGIA MOVED SOUTHWARD HAVE DISSIPATED. EXPECT AREAS OF MIST OR FOG TO DEVELOP BY DAYBREAK...ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTHEAST ALABAMA AND SOUTH CENTRAL GEORGIA. VISIBILITIES SHOULD REMAIN VFR EXCEPT FOR AREAS OF MVFR VISIBILITIES OVER SOUTHEAST ALABAMA AND SOUTH CENTRAL GEORGIA. EXPECT WIDESPREAD MVFR CEILINGS TO DEVELOP BY DAYBREAK ACROSS THE TI STATE AREA...AND BY MID MORNING CONDITIONS WILL RETURN TO VFR. WITH DRIER AIR SPREADING SOUTHWARD ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA...SHOULD SEE ONLY SCATTERED CU AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER FLORIDA. && .FIRE WEATHER...LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL REMAIN PLENTIFUL ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. NO FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS ATTM. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TALLAHASSEE 92 72 92 73 / 30 20 40 10 PANAMA CITY 89 77 89 77 / 40 20 30 10 DOTHAN 93 73 93 72 / 20 10 30 05 ALBANY 95 73 95 73 / 20 10 30 10 VALDOSTA 92 73 92 73 / 20 20 40 10 CROSS CITY 91 72 92 72 / 20 20 40 20 && .TAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. GA...NONE. FL...NONE. GM...NONE. && SHORT TERM/MARINE...BLOCK FIRE WX/AVIATION...DUVAL
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL 531 AM EDT SUN AUG 3 2008 ALZ065>069-FLZ007>019-026>029-034-GAZ120>131-142>148-155>161- GMZ730-750-755-765-770-775-040945- COFFEE-DALE-HENRY-GENEVA-HOUSTON-INLAND WALTON-COASTAL WALTON- HOLMES-WASHINGTON-JACKSON-BAY-CALHOUN-GULF-FRANKLIN-GADSDEN-LEON- JEFFERSON-MADISON-LIBERTY-WAKULLA-TAYLOR-LAFAYETTE-DIXIE-QUITMAN- CLAY-RANDOLPH-TERRELL-DOUGHERTY-LEE-WORTH-TURNER-TIFT-BEN HILL- IRWIN-EARLY-MILLER-BAKER-MITCHELL-COLQUITT-COOK-BERRIEN-SEMINOLE- DECATUR-GRADY-THOMAS-BROOKS-LOWNDES-LANIER- APALACHEE BAY OR COASTAL WATERS FROM KEATON BEACH TO OCHLOCKONEE RIVER FL OUT TO 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM APALACHICOLA TO DESTIN FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM OCHLOCKONEE RIVER TO APALACHICOLA FL OUT TO 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM SUWANNEE RIVER TO KEATON BEACH OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM APALACHICOLA TO DESTIN FL FROM 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM SUWANNEE RIVER TO APALACHICOLA FL FROM 20 TO 60 NM- 531 AM EDT SUN AUG 3 2008 /431 AM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST ALABAMA... SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL GEORGIA...AND THE FLORIDA BIG BEND AND PANHANDLE...AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... PATCHY LIGHT FOG REMAINS POSSIBLE EARLY. OTHERWISE...A WEAKENING SURFACE TROUGH EXISTS JUST NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA BUT THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL LIFT NORTHEAST INTO THE ATLANTIC REPLACED BY A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WITH DRIER AIR FILTERING IN. RAIN CHANCES REMAIN SMALL TODAY...ESPECIALLY AWAY FROM THE COAST. MARINERS SAILING ON THE OFFSHORE PANHANDLE WATERS THIS MORNING MAY EXPERIENCE ELEVATED WINDS AND/OR SEA. PATCHY FOG WILL LIKELY DEVELOP LATER TONIGHT. THE IS A MODERATE TO HIGH RISK FOR RIP CURRENTS THIS AFTERNOON... WITH THE HIGHEST RISK ACROSS WALTON COUNTY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... ALTHOUGH THE UPPER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL REMAIN RELATIVELY DRY...LOW LEVEL ONSHORE FLOW WILL MAINTAIN A HOT AND HUMID AIRMASS FOR MUCH OF THE WORKWEEK. THIS WILL GENERATE UNCOMFORTABLE HEAT INDICES WHICH MAY APPROACH ADVISORY CRITERIA IN SOME LOCALES. THE SEA BREEZE WILL PROVIDE THE FOCUS FOR MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING RAIN EACH DAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEBSITE ON THE INTERNET AT WEATHER.GOV...THEN CLICK ON YOUR AREA OF INTEREST ON THE NATIONAL MAP. BLOCK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
A Texas man and his wife were rescued from the surf by the Panama City Beach police. Both victims were taken to a local hospital. The man was pronounced dead. The woman recovered.
A Georgia man and his two daughters were rescued from the surf by the Panama City Beach police. The girls survived, however the man later died at a local hospital.
An Alabama man and histwo children becmae distressed in the surf, and the children's grandfather went into the water to assist them. The grandfather got caught up in the strong current. Beach Surf and Rescue personnel and nearby beach vendors were able to rescue all four victims. However, paramedics were unable to revive the father, and the grandfather was taken to a local hospital and later released.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rip Current, Bay | 2008-08-03 | 60 | Male | In Water | Direct |
| Rip Current, Bay | 2008-08-03 | 34 | Male | In Water | Direct |
| Rip Current, Bay | 2008-08-04 | 43 | Male | In Water | Direct |
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, August 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: 127671, 127674, 127679.