Heat in Florida, October 8 to 11, 2009

Name: Heat in Florida, October 8 to 11, 2009
Start: 2009-10-08T11:00
End: 2009-10-11T18:00
Location: Florida

October 8 to 11, 2009 · NWS TBW · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Strong high pressure at the surface and aloft centered over Florida provided record warm temperatures from October 7th to October 14th across the area.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 TBW wrote it up.

Strong high pressure at the surface and aloft centered over Florida provided record warm temperatures from October 7th to October 14th across the area.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Polk

When: October 8, 11:00 AM EST to October 11, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Polk forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 27.949, -81.698 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Record high temperatures were felt for four days in a row from October 8th through October 11th at the Lakeland Linder Airport. The high temperature was 95 degrees each afternoon from the 8th through the 10th and 94 degrees on the 11th. This record heat combined with afternoon dew points in the 70s to allow for heat indicies of 100-110 for a few hours each afternoon. As a result, one person in Davenport died on October 9th from heat stroke after working outside all day and then playing basketball that evening.

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
Heat, Polk	2009-10-09	32	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Florida in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, October 2009

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 194950.