A stalling cold front was settling into northern Florida with pre-frontal energy moving over the area, enhancing thunderstorm development in west to southwesterly flow.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 TBW wrote it up.
A stalling cold front was settling into northern Florida with pre-frontal energy moving over the area, enhancing thunderstorm development in west to southwesterly flow.
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 Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 12:12 PM EST, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 112 PM EDT MON AUG 31 2009 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT - WEDNESDAY)...DIURNAL AFTERNOON CONVECTION ACROSS THE REGION WILL SLOWLY WIND DOWN AFTER SUNSET TONIGHT BUT ADDITIONAL OVERNIGHT SHOWERS/STORMS WILL WILL POSSIBLE... ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHERN ZONES AS DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE (PRECIPITABLE WATER AROUND 2) COMBINES WITH A FRONTAL BOUNDARY SAGGING INTO THE NORTHERN PENINSULA AND WEAK IMPULSES MOVING ACROSS THE REGION WITHIN THE SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT PROVIDES ADEQUATE LIFT. GIVEN THIS WILL ADVERTISE 30% POPS ACROSS THE NATURE COAST AND 20% CENTRAL AND SOUTH. DURING TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY ABUNDANT MOISTURE AND AFOREMENTIONED FRONTAL BOUNDARY DRAPED ACROSS THE NORTH-CENTRAL PENINSULA/CENTRAL GULF REGION WITH WAVES OF LOW PRESSURE MOVING ALONG IT COMBINED WITH ADDITIONAL SHORT WAVE ENERGY MOVING ACROSS THE REGION WITHIN THE BASE OF THE UPPER TROUGH TO THE WEST WILL KEEP RAIN CHANCES ELEVATED UNDER MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES WITH NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND SCATTERED STORMS EXPECTED. WILL DEPICT CATEGORICAL POPS (80%) OVER LEVY COUNTY ON TUESDAY...TAPERING BACK TO AROUND 70% FOR THE NATURE COAST...AND 60% CENTRAL AND SOUTH...THEN AROUND 60% ALL ZONES ON WEDNESDAY. INCREASING CLOUD COVER ALONG WITH THE RAIN CHANCES WILL KEEP MAX/MIN TEMPERATURES NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW CLIMATIC NORMS THROUGH THE PERIOD. MAV/MET TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE IS CLOSE SO WILL USE A BLEND. .LONG TERM (WEDNESDAY NIGHT-MONDAY)...AN UPPER TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN U.S. WILL SLOWLY MOVE WEST TO THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL GULF COAST IN RESPONSE TO A RIDGE OVER THE ATLANTIC THAT BUILDS IN ACROSS CUBA. THESE TWO FEATURES WILL MAINTAIN GENERALLY SW FLOW ALOFT THE AREA AS WEAK VORT MAXES ROTATES THROUGH THE BASE OF THE TROUGH. AT THE SURFACE...A FRONTAL TROUGH SW-NE ACROSS FL WILL LIFT UP TO THE NORTHEAST BY THE WEEKEND...LEAVING A LINGERING MOISTURE BOUNDARY ACROSS FL...AS HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE GREAT LAKES BRIDGES THE REMAINS OF THE FRONTAL TROUGH WITH NE AND EAST FLOW. AMPLE MOISTURE ALONG WITH ENERGY FROM THE VORT MAXES AND SEA BREEZES CIRCULATIONS WILL SUPPORT SCATTERED AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPS WILL RUN AROUND NORMAL. && .AVIATION (31/18Z - 01/18Z)...VFR PREVAILS THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH TEMPO MVFR TSRA LATER IN THE AFTERNOON. WINDS MOSTLY SW WILL BECOME WESTERLY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. A FRONTAL BOUNDARY SAGGING IN FROM THE NORTH HAS SLOWED SOME AND HAVE PUSHED TIMING OF MORNING SHRA/TSRA TO 01/12Z AND LATER AT TPA/PIE/SRQ. && .MARINE...A WEAK PRESSURE PATTERN WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT LIGHT WINDS AND SLIGHT SEAS OVER THE ADJACENT GULF WATERS OUTSIDE OF ANY THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK AND INTO THE START OF THE UPCOMING WEEKEND WITH NO HEADLINES EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. && .FIRE WEATHER...NO CONCERNS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TPA 75 89 74 88 / 20 60 30 60 FMY 76 91 75 90 / 20 60 30 60 GIF 75 91 74 89 / 20 60 30 60 SRQ 73 90 73 88 / 20 60 30 60 BKV 70 88 71 86 / 30 70 30 60 SPG 78 87 76 88 / 20 60 30 60 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...NONE. GULF WATERS...NONE. && SHORT TERM/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...57/MCMICHAEL LONG TERM/AVIATION...09/RUDE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 448 AM EDT MON AUG 31 2009 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-312100- LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK- MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DE SOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE- 448 AM EDT MON AUG 31 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... MOISTURE WILL BE INCREASING ACROSS THE AREA TODAY AND THIS WILL RESULT IN MORE THUNDERSTORMS THAN HAVE BEEN PRESENT OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS. WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. THE PRIMARY THREATS FROM THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND GUSTY WINDS. ...RIVER FLOOD IMPACT... MINOR RIVER FLOODING ALONG THE MYAKKA RIVER WILL CONTINUE TODAY. PLEASE REFER TO THE MOST RECENT HYDROLOGIC STATEMENT FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... A COOL FRONT WILL STALL OUT ACROSS NORTHERN FLORIDA BY TUESDAY. THIS WILL CONTINUE TO CREATE A SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW THAT WILL TRANSPORT HIGHER MOISTURE INTO THE AREA AND ALLOW FOR NUMEROUS AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. STORM THREATS WILL PRIMARILY BE BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND GUSTY WINDS. ...RIVER FLOOD IMPACT... MINOR RIVER FLOODING ALONG THE MYAKKA RIVER WILL PERSIST THROUGH FRIDAY. THE RIVER LEVEL WILL FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE ON FRIDAY EVENING. PLEASE REFER TO THE MOST RECENT HYDROLOGIC STATEMENT FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. JOHNSON
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:05 UTC.
3 lightning, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the boom of a 130 foot drag line crane and injured the man operating the crane on Yonkers Boulevard in Zephyrhills. The man was airlifted to a Tampa hospital and was complaining of tingling in his fingers. It was not raining at the time and it was the first lightning strike anyone saw.
Nickel to quarter sized hail was reported on Broadway Street.
Penny sized hail was reported on Oak Avenue.
Lightning struck the Bowling Green Elementary School offices, damaging the phone system and fire alarm circuit boards.
Lightning struck a mobile home and caused a fire that comsumed most of the structure.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, August 2009
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: 186209, 186210, 186211, 192720, 192231.