Under warm and dry high pressure, a strong dust devil developed and tore an aluminum overhang off of a mobile home.
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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 TBW wrote it up.
Under warm and dry high pressure, a strong dust devil developed and tore an aluminum overhang off of a mobile home.
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 Mar 19, 12:22 PM EST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 122 PM EDT THU MAR 19 2009 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT - SATURDAY)... REMNANT FRONTAL BOUNDARY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PENINSULA COMBINED WITH ADEQUATE MOISTURE AND SEA BREEZE BOUNDARY CONVERGENCE WILL SUPPORT SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS AND POSSIBLY A STORM THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS FROM THE BAY AREA SOUTH WHERE SLIGHT CHANCE CATEGORY POPS (20%) WILL BE ADVERTISED. BY LATE EVENING ANY LINGERING PRECIP WILL BE ON THE WANE WITH SKIES BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY TO MOSTLY CLEAR OVERNIGHT. LIGHT WINDS AND SUFFICIENT MOISTURE WILL ALLOW FOR SOME PATCHY LATE NIGHT FOG TO FORM OVER THE NATURE COAST OTHERWISE DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ELSEWHERE. ON FRIDAY AN UPSTREAM SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING OFF THE U.S. EAST COAST WILL HELP TO PUSH ANOTHER COLD FRONT THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON. LIMITED MOISTURE VIA MODEL CROSS-SECTIONS SHOULD MAKE FOR A DRY PASSAGE WITH JUST PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND A WIND SHIFT INTO THE NORTH EXPECTED. DURING FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY STRONG HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD SOUTHEAST TOWARD THE MID ATLANTIC REGION IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT. DRIER AND SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR WILL ADVECT INTO THE FORECAST AREA ON A STRENGTHENING NORTHEASTERLY WIND FLOW WHICH WILL SUPPORT BREEZY AND PLEASANT DRY WEATHER THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES WILL RUN A FEW DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL ON FRIDAY...THEN RETURN TO NEAR NORMAL OVER THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. .LONG TERM (SATURDAY NIGHT-THURSDAY)...DEEP LAYER RIDGING WILL BE BUILDING INTO THE REGION SATURDAY NIGHT. AT THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BEGIN THE PERIOD ACROSS THE ENTIRE EASTERN SEABOARD. BY THURSDAY IT WILL HAVE ONLY MOVED EAST TO BERMUDA...KEEPING A MODERATE PRESSURE GRADIENT ACROSS OUR REGION. FLOW SATURDAY NIGHT WILL BE NORTHEASTERLY AND FAIRLY BREEZY...THEN THROUGH THE WEEK WINDS WILL VEER TO SOUTH AND SOUTHEASTERLY BY THURSDAY. WITH THE SHIFT EXPECT TEMPERATURES TO WARM THROUGH THE WEEK...TO READINGS SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL BY THURSDAY. LOOKS LIKE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE TOO DRY FOR ANY MENTION OF SHOWERS DURING THE PERIOD. HOWEVER WE MAY GET SOME RAIN JUST BEYOND...INTO FRIDAY AND NEXT WEEKEND...AS MODELS INDICATE A STRONGER FRONTAL PASSAGE. STAY TUNED AND CROSS YOUR FINGERS. && .AVIATION...EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS NEXT 24 HOURS. EXCEPTIONS MAY BE SOME SHOWERS ACROSS SOUTHWEST FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON. LEANING TOWARDS NOT INCLUDING STORMS GIVEN SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATING ENOUGH SUBSIDENCE TO PREVENT THEM. NEXT EXCEPTION WILL BE CHANCE FOR MVFR VISIBILITIES FROM KSRQ SOUTH AROUND DAYBREAK TOMORROW...AND HAVE TEMPO GROUPS IN FOR THIS CONDITION. && .MARINE...NORTHEAST TO EAST WINDS IN THE 10-15 KNOT RANGE WITH SEAS OF 2-4 FEET WILL CONTINUE OVER THE GULF WATERS THROUGH TONIGHT. ON FRIDAY ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SOUTH THROUGH THE PENINSULA DURING THE DAY. IN THE WAKE OF THIS FRONT NORTHEASTERLY WINDS WILL BE ON THE INCREASE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH HAZARDOUS BOATING CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE GULF WATERS AS WINDS/SEAS INCREASE INTO THE SMALL CRAFT RANGE ON SATURDAY WITH THESE CONDITIONS CONTINUING THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK AS STRONG HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN OVER THE EASTERN SEA BOARD WITH A TIGHT 5-7MB GRADIENT SETTING UP ACROSS THE PENINSULA. && .FIRE WEATHER...A DRIER AIR MASS WILL MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA FRIDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THIS DIRER AIR MAY LEAD TO A FEW HOURS OF HUMIDITY VALUES BELOW 35 PERCENT EACH AFTERNOON...AND THESE LOW HUMIDITY VALUES COMBINED WITH AN INCREASING NORTHEASTERLY WIND FLOW 15 MPH WITH SOME HIGHER GUSTS MAY SUPPORT SHORT FUSED RED FLAG CONDITIONS THROUGH THE PERIOD. IN ADDITION TO THE LOW HUMIDITY VALUES THE INCREASING 20 FOOT AND TRANSPORT WINDS COMBINED WITH MIXING HEIGHTS IN THE 5-6KFT RANGE WILL YIELD HIGH DISPERSION INDICES EACH DAY AS WELL. THESE LOW HUMIDITY VALUES AND INCREASING WINDS WILL INCREASE THE SPREAD OF ANY FIRE THAT MAY START ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA...SO ALL RESIDENTS AND VISITORS ARE URGED TO USE EXTREME CAUTION WITH ANY OUTDOOR OPEN FLAMES. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TPA 60 81 58 77 / 20 10 5 5 FMY 59 82 59 80 / 20 10 5 5 GIF 61 81 56 75 / 10 10 5 5 SRQ 60 81 58 78 / 20 10 5 5 BKV 54 82 53 77 / 5 10 5 5 SPG 65 79 63 75 / 20 10 5 5 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...NONE. GULF WATERS...NONE. && SHORT TERM/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...57/MCMICHAEL LONG TERM/AVIATION...55/SHARP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 448 AM EDT THU MAR 19 2009 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-191700- LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK- MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DE SOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE- 448 AM EDT THU MAR 19 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. SHOWER ACTIVITY WILL BE POSSIBLE TODAY...MAINLY SOUTH OF TAMPA BAY...AS AN UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCE CROSSES FLORIDA. EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS ARE EXPECTED WITH NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER HAZARDS ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HIGH PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO BUILD OVER FLORIDA BOTH AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT DURING THE PERIOD. LOW LEVEL EASTERLY FLOW WILL ACQUIRE A MORE SOUTHERLY COMPONENT BY LATE WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. CANTIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 dust devil. Local standard time, as filed.
An aluminum overhang was torn off of a mobile home in Ruskin. There was flat cumulus and interviews with two eye witnesses both said there was rotation at the ground. It was determined this was a dust devil.
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, March 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: 155178.