Sea breeze thunderstorms produced lightning along the Brevard County coast.
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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 MLB wrote it up.
Sea breeze thunderstorms produced lightning along the Brevard County coast.
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 Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 11, 9:45 AM EST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1045 AM EDT FRI JUL 11 2008 ...SWELLS FROM BERTHA WILL HEIGHTEN THE RISK FOR STRONG RIP CURRENTS THROUGH THE WEEKEND... .DISCUSSION...TODAY...LATEST MSAS SURFACE ANALYSIS/BUOY REPORTS PLACES SURFACE RIDGE AXIS ACROSS SOUTHERN CWA. VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGES SHOWS MOSTLY CLEAR/SUNNY SKIES WHICH WILL ALLOW FOR RAPID DAYTIME HEATING THIS MORNING. 10Z CAPE SOUNDING 2.34 PRECIPITABLE WATER LIKELY CONTAMINATED AND DISCOUNTED. ANOTHER XMR SOUNDING PLANNED FOR 15Z. MOISTURE HAS INCREASED SLIGHTLY OVER PAST 24 HOURS...BUT OVERALL STILL LIMITED. LATE AFTERNOON EAST AND WEST COAST SEA BREEZE BOUNDARY COLLISIONS OVER THE CENTER OF THE CWA STILL A GOOD CALL...PROBABLY SLIGHTLY EAST OF THU COLLISON GIVEN SOUTHWARD DISPLACEMENT OF RIDGE AXIS POSITION. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO CURRENT FORECAST. && .AVIATION...VFR ALL SITES THROUGH 18Z. 18-21Z EXPECT ISOLD SHRA/TSRA TO DEVELOP MAINLY WEST OF KVRB/KMLB VICINITY ALONG THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE AND PUSH INLAND THIS AFTN. LATE AFTERNOON/AFT 22Z PROB30 MVFR GROUPS FROM KDAB TO KISM IN ISOLD-SCT ACTIVITY. VFR AFT 02Z. && .MARINE...BUOY REPORTS SHOWING BUILDING VERY LONG PERIOD/13 SECONDS OR HIGHER/ EASTERLY SWELL FROM DISTANT HURRICANE BERTHA IN THE ATLANTIC. LIGHT OFFSHORE WINDS WILL SHIFT ONSHORE WITH THE ONSET OF THE AFTERNOON SEA BREEZE CIRCULATIONS. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS GOOD AND WILL UPDATE WITH NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES. && WIMMER/SPRATT
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 441 AM EDT FRI JUL 11 2008 AMZ550-552-555-570-572-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141- 144-147-111900- COASTAL WATERS FROM FLAGLER BEACH TO VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE TO SEBASTIAN INLET OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM SEBASTIAN INLET TO JUPITER INLET OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM FLAGLER BEACH TO VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE 20 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- WATERS FROM VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE TO SEBASTIAN INLET 20 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- WATERS FROM SEBASTIAN INLET TO JUPITER INLET 20 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- INLAND VOLUSIA-NORTHERN LAKE-ORANGE-SEMINOLE-SOUTHERN BREVARD- OSCEOLA-INDIAN RIVER-OKEECHOBEE-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA- SOUTHERN LAKE-NORTHERN BREVARD- 441 AM EDT FRI JUL 11 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...RIP CURRENT IMPACT... LONG PERIOD OCEAN SWELLS OF 3 TO 4 FEET ARE EXPECTED TO IMPACT EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA BEACHES TODAY. THE LONG PERIOD EAST SWELLS FROM HURRICANE BERTHA WILL CAUSE THE RIP CURRENT RISK TO BE HIGH AT EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA BEACHES. A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS MEANS WIND AND WAVE CONDITIONS SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG AND DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS. RIP CURRENTS CAN BE LIFE-THREATENING TO ANYONE ENTERING THE SURF. REMEMBER TO SWIM NEAR A LIFEGUARD AND DO NOT SWIM ALONE. IF CAUGHT IN A RIP CURRENT...SWIM PARALLEL TO THE BEACH UNTIL OUT OF THE PULL OF THE CURRENT AND THEN SWIM BACK TO SHORE. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... ISOLATED LIGHTNING STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN THE EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON AS THE EAST COAST SEA BREEZE PUSHES INLAND FROM THE TREASURE AND SPACE COASTS. COVERAGE OF STORMS IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING ALONG AND EAST OF THE INTERSTATE FOUR CORRIDOR AS DEEP MOISTURE...SEA BREEZE BOUNDARIES AND AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TRIGGER ADDITIONAL STORMS. THE MAIN HAZARDS WITH STORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS... GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH AND CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. SWELLS FROM HURRICANE BERTHA WILL CONTINUE THE THREAT FOR STRONG RIP CURRENTS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. A MID LEVEL TROUGH AND DEEP MOISTURE WILL GENERATE NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON SATURDAY. SCATTERED LIGHTNING STORMS ARE ALSO EXPECTED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. VOLKMER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning ignited a fire that destroyed an expensive water front home in Merritt Island. Damage estimates were over $2 million.
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, July 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: 129257.