Name: Wildfire in Florida, May 1 to 31, 2008
Start: 2008-05-01T18:30
End: 2008-05-31T23:59
Location: Florida

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 29
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS MFL wrote it up.

A series of muck fires burned along the dry lakebed of southwestern Lake Okeechobee near the Glades and Hendry county shoreline for almost the entire month of May. Smoke from these fires periodically closed area roads and caused an accident involving fatalities in northern Hendry County.

What forecasters said that day

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 Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 1, 1:39 PM EST, 4 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 1:39 PM EST, 4 hours 51 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
239 PM EDT THU MAY 1 2008

.DISCUSSION...A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER THE CAROLINA COASTAL
WATERS WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST TO BETWEEN BERMUDA AND NORTHEAST
FLORIDA AND BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY BY SATURDAY. THEN SUNDAY
NIGHT THE HIGH MOVES EAST AS A WEAK COLD FRONT ENTERS NORTH
FLORIDA, SLOWLY MOVES SOUTH AND PASSES SOUTH FLORIDA LATE MONDAY
NIGHT. ANOTHER HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM BUILDS IN FROM THE NORTHWEST.
CHANCES OF RAIN ARE SLIM SUNDAY BUT BECOME A BIT BETTER MONDAY AND
MONDAY NIGHT AS THE FRONT GETS CLOSE AND COME THROUGH. OTHER THAN
SLIGHT CHANCE SHOWERS SUNDAY AFTERNOON TO MONDAY NIGHT, NIL POPS
CAN BE EXPECTED.

&&

.AVIATION...
VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO DOMINATE THROUGH THE PERIOD. WINDS ARE
EXPECTED TO REMAIN GENERALLY EAST AT AROUND 15KTS WITH GUSTS TO
AROUND 20 TO 22KTS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN DURING FRIDAY,
BUT SPEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE SOMEWHAT LESS TONIGHT AND LESS GUSTY.

&&

.MARINE...EASTERLY WINDS AT SCEC LEVELS WILL DECREASE AND TURN
SOUTHEAST SATURDAY NIGHT. THEN ON MONDAY, WINDS WILL BECOME SOUTH
TO SOUTHWEST AT LIGHT SPEEDS AND THEN A SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST TO
NORTH AT 10 KNOTS AT BEST LATER MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...UNDER A RED FLAG WARNING AT THE CURRENT TIME BUT
LOOKS EXTREMELY CLOSE. NOT LOOKING FOR A 4 HOUR DURATION EVENT ATTM
BUT MORE LIKE LESS THAN 35 PERCENT WITH WINDS OF 15 MPH. FOR FRIDAY,
WITH A BIT MORE EAST WIND, DONT LIKE THE LOW RH DEPICTION WITH
THE NAM12 OVER THE SOUTHWEST. EXPECT SLIGHTLY MORE MOISTURE ON
FRIDAY SO THE LOWEST RHS WILL BE FCSTD AROUND 36 PERCENT. CANT
SEE HOW IT CAN BE DRIER THAN TODAY.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
WEST PALM BEACH  70  81  71  82 / -  -  -  10
FORT LAUDERDALE  72  82  72  82 / -  -  -  10
MIAMI            70  82  72  83 / -  -  -  10
NAPLES           61  86  63  84 / -  -  -  10

&&

.MFL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR FLZ063-FLZ066-
     FLZ069-FLZ070.

AM...NONE.
GM...NONE.
&&

LONG TERM...18/GR
SHORT TERM/AVIATION...04/AT

Hazardous weather outlook, May 1, 5:41 PM EST, 49 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH FLORIDA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
641 PM EDT THU MAY 1 2008

FLZ063-066>075-168-172>174-021045-
GLADES-HENDRY-INLAND PALM BEACH-METRO PALM BEACH-COASTAL COLLIER-
INLAND COLLIER-INLAND BROWARD-METRO BROWARD-INLAND MIAMI DADE-
METRO MIAMI DADE-MAINLAND MONROE-COASTAL PALM BEACH-
COASTAL BROWARD-COASTAL MIAMI DADE-FAR SOUTH MIAMI DADE-
641 PM EDT THU MAY 1 2008

...HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS THROUGH FRIDAY ATLANTIC COAST BEACHES...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

RIP CURRENTS: STRONG EASTERLY WINDS OF 15 TO 20 MPH ALONG THE
ATLANTIC COAST WILL RESULT IN A HIGH RISK OF DANGEROUS RIP
CURRENTS OVERNIGHT AT THE BEACHES OF PALM BEACH, BROWARD AND MIAMI- DADE
COUNTIES.

NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

STRONG AND DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS WILL CONTINUE AT THE ATLANTIC
COAST BEACHES ON FRIDAY WITH THE STRONG EASTERLY FLOW PERSISTING. THE
EASTERLY WINDS WILL DECREASE SOMEWHAT ON SATURDAY BUT THERE WILL
STILL BE A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS BEFORE DIMINISHING ON
SUNDAY.

NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
MIAMI WEBSITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/MIAMI.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Glades

When: May 1, 6:30 PM EST to May 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Glades forecast zone
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 26.957, -81.189 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wildfires burning muck or peat exposed by ongoing dry conditions along the southwestern shore of Lake Okeechobee spread to over 15 miles long from near Lakeport to near Clewiston and covered almost 30,000 acres as of May 31. Multiple road closures occurred nearly every night through the period, especially along US 27 and state roads 720 and 78, as the smoke settled near the ground and caused low visibilities. Several RVs were also threatened near the Moore Haven Marina & RV Resort.

Wildfire, Hendry

When: May 1, 6:30 PM EST to May 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Hendry forecast zone
Deaths: 0 direct, 1 indirect
Injuries: 0 direct, 29 indirect
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 26.554, -81.166 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wildfires burning muck or peat exposed by ongoing dry conditions along the southwestern shore of Lake Okeechobee spread to over 15 miles long from near Lakeport to near Clewiston and covered almost 30,000 acres as of May 31. Multiple road closures occurred nearly every night through the period, especially along US 27 and state roads 720 and 78, as the smoke settled near the ground and caused low visibilities. Several RVs were also threatened near the Moore Haven Marina & RV Resort.

The very low visibilities from the wildfires caused a chain-reaction accident on the morning of May 16th along US Highway 27 at Airglades Boulevard in extreme northern Hendry County between Clewiston and Moore Haven. A total of five accidents were reported, with 11 vehicles involved. One person died and 29 were taken to the hospital. The lead vehicle in the crash failed to slow down to avoid a collision, which triggered the rest of the accident.

The people who died

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
Wildfire, Hendry	2008-05-16			Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Indirect

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Florida in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, May 2008

Sources

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: 102366, 102378.