A tropical wave over south Florida moved west of the area through the day which brought increased moisture over the area. Drier air from high pressure to the north infiltrated over southeast Georgia.
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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.
A tropical wave over south Florida moved west of the area through the day which brought increased moisture over the area. Drier air from high pressure to the north infiltrated over southeast Georgia. Steering flow was light per a deformation zone over the area. Sea breeze and outflow initiated storms produced heavy rainfall over localized areas.
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 Jul 8, 8:45 AM EST, 3 hours 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL 945 AM EDT TUE JUL 8 2008 .UPDATE...MORNING WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS UPPER LEVEL TROUGH AXIS FROM AN UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER VA TO SE GA AND INTO THE NE GULF OF MEXICO. THE TROUGH HAS BECOME LESS DISTINCT OVER THE REGION DURING THE LAST 24 HRS. SOME DRIER AIR HAS FILTERED INTO THE SE GA AREA AS THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH AXIS SHIFTS INTO NE FL...BUT SOUNDING DATA AND DERIVED SATELLITE DATA SHOW HIGHER PWATS IN NE FL WHICH MAY BE DUE TO AFFECTS OF A TROPICAL WAVE MOVING THROUGH THE ERN GULF OF MEXICO. FOR REST OF TODAY...THE NAM MODELS MID AND UPPER LEVEL WINDS SHOW THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TO CONT SHIFTING E CONTINUING THE NW-N FLOW ABOVE 300 MB BUT WEAKER FLOW WILL BE REMAINING OVER THE INLAND NE FL ZONES. AT SFC...RIDGE AXIS IS LOCATED OVER SE GA WITH LOW LEVEL FLOW FROM THE S AND SE. WEAK SFC TROUGHING NOTED OVER THE COASTAL WATERS SPARKING A FEW SHOWERS ABOUT 60 NM OUT BUT THIS TROUGH SHOULD WEAKEN AS SEA BREEZE DEVELOPS. MEAN FLOW BELOW 500 MB IS FROM THE S AT 5-10 KT AND PWATS WILL REMAIN UP AROUND 1.7 TO 2 INCHES TODAY. JAX MORNING SOUNDING LOOKS MORE UNSTABLE THAN MONDAY WITH PWAT OF 1.95 INCHES AND LI OF -6 TO -7. MODIFIED CAPE VALUE ON THE ORDER OF 2500-3000 J/KG. GREATER CAPE AND POTENTIALLY HIGHER TEMPS MAY TRANSLATE INTO SOME STRONGER STORMS AS WELL WITH EXCESSIVE LIGHTNING AND DOWNBURSTS THE MAIN CONCERNS. IN ADDITION...WEAK WINDS ALOFT MAY SUPPORT A HIGHER RISK OF A WATERSPOUT IN THE COASTAL WATERS IF STRONG CELLS DEVELOP. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS ON TRACK WITH LITTLE CHANGE ANTICIPATED WITH GREATER CHANCES (AROUND 60% COVERAGE) OVER MAINLY INLAND NE FL. && .AVIATION...LOWER CONVECTIVE TEMPS SHOULD PRODUCE AN EARLIER START TO CONVECTION TODAY. BASED ON ABOVE THINKING...HIGHEST CONFIDENCE OF CONVECTION AFFECTING TAF SITES IS GAINESVILLE. THEREFORE WILL LIKELY UPGRADE VCTS TO TEMPO GROUP FOR THE NEXT TAF ISSUANCE. && .MARINE...CURRENT WEAK SLY FLOW AROUND 5 KT EXPECTED TO INCREASE AND BACK AS THE SEA BREEZE DEVELOPS. SEAS NOTED FROM OBS TO BE AROUND 2-3 FT. LITTLE CHANGE EXPECTED FOR THE CWF UPDATE. && .JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...NONE. GA...NONE. AM...NONE. && SHASHY/MCALLISTER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL 1155 AM EDT TUE JUL 8 2008 FLZ020>025-030>033-035>038-040-GAZ132>136-149>154-162>166-090945- ALACHUA-APPLING-ATKINSON-BACON-BAKER-BRADFORD-BRANTLEY- CAMDEN (COASTAL)-CAMDEN (INLAND)-CHARLTON-CLAY-CLINCH-COFFEE- COLUMBIA-DUVAL-ECHOLS-FLAGLER-GILCHRIST-GLYNN (COASTAL)- GLYNN (INLAND)-HAMILTON-JEFF DAVIS-MARION-NASSAU-PIERCE-PUTNAM- ST JOHNS-SUWANNEE-UNION-WARE-WAYNE- 1155 AM EDT TUE JUL 8 2008 THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND SOUTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... ...A FEW STRONG STORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON... A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL LEAD TO SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. THE BEST RAIN CHANCES WILL BE ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST FLORIDA. A FEW STORMS MAY BE STRONG WITH FREQUENT TO EXCESSIVE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...WIND GUSTS AROUND 50 MPH...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND SMALL HAIL THE MAIN CONCERNS. MOVEMENT OF STORMS WILL BE NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 5 TO 10 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY. SOME STORMS MAY BE STRONG. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE WEBSITE ON THE INTERNET AT WEATHER.GOV/JAX. PP/ARS
The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:40 UTC.
1 lightning, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A 54 year old man was struck by lightning while sitting under a tin frame shelter open that was exposed on three sides. He suffered a minor burn on his right side.
Spotters measured 2.75 inches of rainfall about 5 miles west of the airport in Gainesville around 5:30 pm EDT in one hour. At the same time, another spotter reported minor street flooding throughout Gainesville. By 6:30 pm EDT, a spotter measured 4.5 inches of rainfall in 2 hours with ditches and culverts full but not yet flooding. At 6:50 pm EDT, Alachua county central dispatch relayed reports of flooding in Gainesville, including in the Alachua General Hospital. Sandbags were used to retain water. A dumpster was observed floating in flood waters at an apartment complex. Several vehicles were stalled in flood waters with at least one with extensive flood damage to the interior. The cost of damage was estimated.
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: 102980, 109763.